Broken Stream
by The Lunatic Author
Summary: Sonic didn't understand. All he wanted was to defeat Dark Oak. He certaintly wasn't expecting this to occur. The bright colors danced around the tip of his hands, feeling both alien and terribly familiar. Was this Chaos energy? If so, why didn't it feel like it? Sonadow.
1. The End of Dark Oak

**EEhhhh...enjoy? I such at author notes...  
**

 **Also, Sonadow. Be mindful, and no whining about it.**

 **NOTE: Set during the end of Sonic X. No need to see the show really, just check out the ending on the wiki and you will be fine. Though the show is good, so I suggest you try it :D**

* * *

 _Act 1: The End of Dark Oak._

Bright flashes of red and gold illuminated the darkness of space, a electrical crackle echoing in the vast void as spheres of light tore through space and slammed into a wall of ink. The barrier shuddered, waves of dark energy spilling from the points of impact and gathering beneath the luminous globes before sending them flying back in a shower of blue sparks. Ominous laughter echoed from beyond the obsidian shield, coming from a gigantic, writhing mass of grey energy that slowly pulsed, not unlike a beating heart.

The Chaos Orbs that were deflected by the barrier flew across space, nearly clipping their creators who hastily avoided their own attack. Sonic grit his teeth as he surveilled the battlefield, frustration and anger shinning in his amber eyes upon witnessing just how ineffective their attacks were. The golden hedgehog didn't need to glance at the silver immortal at his side to know that Shadow was glaring at Dark Oak with all of his might, as if a mere scowl could reduce the disgusting creature to ashes.

The Blue Blur wished it was that easy.

"We don't have much time." The elder's voice carried over to him, strangely even for the situation they were in. "He's gathering energy from his surroundings. It will be enough to destroy most of this galaxie."

"Great." Sonic winced, trying to keep dread from crawling up his spine. Despite being a pretty optimistic fellow, he could see that their situation was bad. Worse than any other battle he had been in -and this one had the highest stakes so far. "Any ideas?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be standing here doing nothing, Faker."

"Actually, we are floating." Sonic chirped, earning a seething glare from the Ultimate Lifeform. "See?" He flipped himself upside down and smiled at the unamused Ultimate Lifeform. "No gravity here, buddy." The sharp ruby eyes narrowed dangerously. Sonic could almost feel his rival's murderous intent, but he felt proud when his keen eyes spotted the slight upward twitch of the older male's tan lips.

Incredible. _The only time he's smiling at my jokes, it's the end of the world._ Sonic glanced at the their opponent. _Quite literally, in fact._

Heh.

 _End of the world or not, his reaction's still priceless._

The young hero felt a smudge of anxiety at the thought. The end of the world was at his doorstep and he couldnt stop it. And he was in Super mode damn it. He was supposed to be able to do anything with the power of the Chaos Emeralds, but it seemed as if the one time he needed them, he was helpless. Hell, he had the Ultimate Lifeform at his side and they still couldn't do anything. It was distabilizing to think how helpless they were.

Amber eyes darkened and the young speedster righted himself, Chaos crackling around his fingertips as he drew onto the power of the mythical jewels. He'll kiss _Shadow_ before he allowed Dark Oak to win, as traumatising the mental image was. The Blue Blur raised his arms, sensing Shadow doing the same as they both gathered Chaos, their movements a mirror of their counterpart. Gold and red gathered in front of them as a small sphere, threatening to explode with each gentle pulse. Sonic glanced at his rival, noting how Shadow's arms shook with effort. The gold hedgehog himself was tired, and he knew the Ultimate Lifeform was likely to be just as exhausted, but witnessing himself took him aback. Especially knowing that Dark Oak didn't seem fazed by their attacks.

Amber and ruby met, both pair of eyes shinning with determination.

"Chaos Blast!"

Pure heat exploded out if the two transformed heroes' hands, a wave of scarlet and yellow surging towards Dark Oak at blinding speeds. A loud explosion echoed across space as the very world around them shuddered as the unstoppable force that was the Chaos Blast collided with the immovable object that was the obsidian shield protecting the Metarex leader from harm. The Chaos fire licked at the black barrier, partially envelopping the side of the spherical shield; Sonic' heart leaped with both guilt and joy as he heart Dark Oak let out a agonized shriek from beyond the shield.

The two hedgehogs waited with bathed breath as the Chaos Blast slowly dissipating, impatiently waiting to see the shattered remains of the barrier -but dread rose in their minds as they witnessed a virtually untouched shield, only faint cracks that were quickly disspearing marring the surface of the orb as a result of their most powerful attack.

 _What the hell?!_ Sonic breathed heavily as he stared at the coal barrier separating them from the giant dark mass the last Metarex had become, disbelief clear in his expression as he took in the unblemished, undamaged state of the shield. Shadow snarled somewhere to his side, but he didn't pay attention to the elder's fury, too shocked by the aftermath of the Chaos technique. That was it?! That attack had devastated entire bases with ease, he'd seen Shadow do it enough times to know just how deadly it was. Now in Super form, done by two people in said transformed state and this was it?!

Sonic took a deep breath as he felt his body shudder unwillingly, exhausted by all the pressure he had put himself through. The speedster knew that their lives, present and future, as well as the fate of the entire universe were at stake, but damn he felt like sitting down and snoring until the end of time.

He had thrown everything he had at the monstrosity with no avail. The force field the lunatic creature had placed to keep them away as he prepared to end the universe took their strongest attacks without even flinching. Chaos Spear, Chaos Blast, Chaos Sphere, it seemed as if nothing would get past it.

The situation was getting more and more hopeless.

Super Sonic growled lowly as he hovered besides his rival, his fur shimmering like if each individual hair was a small sun. Their adversary stood in all of his disgusting glory, a round mass of black that pulsed softly, slowly gathering energy from every non-plant life in the universe. Since the two hedgehogs were in their enhanced states the drain was painful, but not as much as the mobians and humans on the combined Blue Typhoon were experiencing, as well as every organic in the universe.

"Doesn't seem like anything will get through to him!" Shadow glanced at him at the blue hedgehog's irritated snarl, taking in the faintly trembling form. Sonic's gold fur was flickering, edges of blue appearing at the tip of his limbs.

The Ultimate Lifeform didn't need to look at himself to know he was in a similar state. He could feel the Chaos Emeralds within himself and his rival churning and vibrating in their chest, trying to escape and separate once more. It wouldn't be long until the mythical stones managed to escape. No matter how mentally and physically strong their hosts were, the Emeralds would always win at the end. The two hedgehogs had very little time left until the jewels forcefully left them.

"This is useless." The silver male muttered darkly, his eyes shadowed and foreboding as he looked back at the Metarex, feeling the monumental energy gathering within the malformed creature, threatening to explode. _We are running out of time._ "We're just wasting energy by doing this."

They had tried everything, and nothing seemed to get past it.

...was this really how it would all end?

 _I haven't tried everything_... Shadow looked down at his wrists. The golden cuffs glinted softly in the light of his pale silver fur, almost mocking their owner. He reached out, long fingers sliding over the thick, shimmering ring, edging to the side of the cuff where the opening mechanism was located- a hand suddenly clamped around his left wrist in a iron grip, and Shadow was suddenly staring into furious ambers orbs, so filled with rage and disbelief it took him off guard.

His younger rival's eyes were burning with righteous fury, his lips curled back in a uncharacteristically feral sneer that reminded him of his own. The sudden indignation in the smaller male's eyes was destabilising.

"Don't you _dare_." Sonic hissed menacingly, his grip on the other tightening as he pinned him in place with the anger in his eyes. If Shadow hadn't been in Super form, the strength within the other's hand could have crushed his limb. "You nearly died twice already, I don't want another added to the list. No matter what happens, don't you _dare_ pull off those rings!"

"What else could we do?!" Shadow snapped at the smaller hedgehog, easily slapping the offending limb off him. "Nothing is getting pass it."

The honey orbs blinked, and Sonic visibly wilted at the elder's argument. "Well, we- I mean, we could..." The golden hedgehog hesitated, biting his lip as triangular ears lowered by a fraction. It was clear that the speedster had realized the truth behind the elder's words. The younger's stare faltered as he gave the other a small, unsure grin. "...could we at least try a combined Chaos Blast again?" The paler male glared, but his eyes softened at the prospect. He knew Sonic was not one who could bear the lost of a friend, even if the fate of the world was at stake.

It was simply who he was. The least he could do was honor that simple wish. After all, trying one last time wouldn't be much of a bother, would it?

"Fine."

 _I'll knock him out after this. He won't expect it._ It was a good plan. Once Sonic was out of the way, he would draw the Chaos energy from the Emeralds out of the sapphire hedgehog and into himself, before getting rid of the rings tightened around his wrists and ankles. From his calculations, that should give him enough boost for a concentrated Chaos Blast to tear through the annoying barrier, and with enough luck, kill Dark Oak before he could do anything else to defend himself.

If not, he could use a Chaos Control to warp the creature somewhere it could not escape. Like a black hole, or a large sun, or even distort time and space around the beast and tear it apart with the technique. There was a high possibility Shadow would lose his enhanced state during the process, effectively falling to his death with the wretched being, but the Ultimate Lifeform did not care. The immortal saw it as his duty; he had promised Maria to protect the people of Earth, but that world was forever out of his grasp. Shadow knew that the blonde girl wouldn't have stood by this, so he would do his best to honor her request.

Besides, if he didn't interfere Sonic would recklessly sacrifice himself in a effort to stop Dark Oak. The last thing Shadow needed was the idiot dying. He wouldn't allow the younger one to sacrifice himself when he still had so much to live for. Sonic had plenty of people waiting for him. He had none.

Their hearts set -with Sonic blissfully unaware of his companion's plan- the two heroes turned to the black orb, eyes shinning with determination. Their golden auras grew stronger and thicker as they gathered Chaos Energy into their bodies once more, preparing for one last attempt at destroying the barrier.

Their hands rose, eyes narrowing as their bodies began glowing like newborn stars, getting ready to unleash their power upon their seemingly unstoppable opponent.

"Chaos Blast!"

Their world was bathed with gold and scarlet. Sonic whooped as the wave of light crashed against the black shield, which seemed to strain, bending inwards as cracks began spreading across it's surface -when suddenly, the shield burst forward, pulsing brightly and shredding through the Chaos Blast with ease, to the heroes' horror. To make matters worse, it sent a wave of energy at the two hedgehogs, a sea of black riddled with iridescent stars that was expelled with so much force pat of the barrier cracked.

"Oh fuck!" Sonic yelped, flying back as he watched the wave approach, terror coursing through him as he glanced back, spotting his friends on the spaceship behind them. this was bad. The golden hedgehog and his rival knew they could avoid the attack with ease, but the thousands of tons of metal housing the mobians and the humans behind them did not have the speed or were in the condition to move.

They needed to do something, fast, or their allies would be flattened before they could even realise what was happening.

The Blue Blur felt a surge of bravery as he surged forwards, understanding that he needed to cancel out the attack somehow, otherwise his friends would be reduced to ashes. He sensed Shadow flying somewhere to his side, the Ultimate Lifeform understanding what he wanted to do. Gold burst forth from their bodies, stretching into a large circular shape that dwarfed the spaceship the heroes were desperately trying to protect.

They didn't expect the blast of dark energy to suddenly narrow into a arrow shape, cutting through their shield with minimal effort and striking the transformed hedgehogs with monumental strength.

The two heroes cried out as they were sent flying back like ragdolls, the golden shade of their fur falling off them in a shower of gold dust. Deep black fur with red stripes were left behind on Shadow's fur, as blue and fawn replaced the bright sun shade on Sonic's pelt. The blast sent them crashing into the flying pad of the Blue Typhoon, tumbling until Shadow's back connected with the palm trees dotting the Typhoon and Sonic came to a halt on his side, further down the platform.

The Chaos Emeralds clattered to the ground around the two battered males, their colours dulling considerably as they lost the remainder of their power. The jewels turned dark and opaque, signalling their lifeless state.

Shadow groaned in pain as he pulled himself free of the remains of the fake tree, growling lowly as his back cried out in protest. The Ultimate Lifeform snarled at the pain that came with his newest injuries, hating how weak he was feeling. They would be problematic to his performance in battle, and nothing annoyed the immortal more than being vulnerable. He glanced at the Chaos Emeralds, reaching towards them only to pause when he noticed the dead coloration of the mythical stones.

The striped warrior nearly screamed out in frustration right then and there.

Without the jewels at his command, what could he do to defeat Dark Oak?

This was getting more and more hopeless. The weight of the situation was crushing Shadow, who glared at the gigantic sphere of dark energy looming overhead, silently mocking his weakened state. It took a great amount of self-control from the obsidian immortal to not spend the remainder of his Chaos in a ridiculous attempt to break the black shield.

What could they do now? Ruby eyes gazed down at the Emeralds once more, widening as they recalled something. Somewhere on this ship was the Master Emerald. Although it would be dangerous, as the stone's massive energy was unpredictable, he could use the Chaos of the giant jewel to pull off one final transformation. It would be unlikely, but it was worth a shot...but to get close to the Master Emerald, he would need to get pass that overprotective echidna, and while Dark Oak was draining every living being's lifeforce from miles around, Shadow didn't think he could take on the weakened Guardian in his injured state.

He would have to coerce his way through. The echidna however wasn't that dim.

Shadow knew he would need help from the annoying blue hedgehog on this one. If Sonic managed to talk down the echidna, or at least distract him, the Ultimate Lifeform would be able to reach the Master Emerald and attempt his desperate plan.

(Desperate yes, but it was the only plan they had.)

Breathing heavily through his nose, the immortal shakily rose to his feet, sneering as he felt his legs tremble under his own weight. He _detested_ feeling weak. "Faker, get up, we need to move..." The irate male exclaimed lowly,

The beginning of his next sentence dying in his throat as he noticed the blue figure of his rival had not risen from the floor, but rather lay there, looking like a discarded doll.

Limp.

Lifeless.

Trying his best to stay calm, the black and red male began to hobble towards the lethargic cobalt form laying still a few feet away from him. "Hedgehog?" Shadow questioned , more urgently this time. His eyes narrowed at the lack of response from the normally hyperactive mobian, uncertainty and a smudge of dread slowly crawling up his spine the longer the silence stretched. He wasn't even getting a disgruntled growl in return from the blue hedgehog; the silence was eating at his nerves.

Ignoring his dignity for a moment, Shadow's slow walk turning into a quick limp as he neared his ally.

His suspicions were proven to be correct. The longer he stared down at the smaller form, the more he understood that Faker was most definitively not well. The younger hero was curled up on the ground, his form not unlike a corpse; the only sounds that left the limp figure -the only ones that signalled that the younger was still alive- was the occasional rasping breath as he struggled to suck in air due to a unknown cause. His bright green eyes were wide and glazed over, unfocused, unknowngly staring up into smouldering red that widened dramatically as their owner noticed how the jade orbs lacked focus.

His sharp, metal-bending quills were soft and spongy, spreading out around his head line a wave of blue, a sight that made Shadow realise just how bad the speedster's condition was. He knew from observation that Sonic's quills were always half-raised, a side-effect of constantly fighting for years -to have them in such a state, it meant that even the younger's natural instincts were unable to stay active. It was a miracle the other was still awake -at least, what seemed to be awake. The Faker almost looked like he was vividly hallucinating.

Realising the severity of the situation as he took in the sorry sight of his rival looking like a stringless puppet, twitching on the ground with dulling green eyes rolled over, the ebony male was quick to kneel down next to the fallen being and look over the smaller hero. Shadow leaned over the blue form his left hand carefully reaching out to his rival's small neck. He checked the other's vitals skillfully, his mouth feeling strangely dry as he struggled to stay calm as Sonic failed to respond to being handled.

 _Heart rate slow, breathing erratic._ He shook the younger one violently, trying to get a rise from the normally so lively blue pest, but Sonic offered nothing. _He's completely unresponsive. A concussion?_ He ran his hand between the twitching blue ears, frowning as he failed to feel any bruising patterns underneath the soft fur or get blood on his gloves. It made the Ultimate Lifeform snarl, panic rising as he continued his attempts to reanimate the other, going as far as to grab the small shoulders and shake the other violently, his anxiety rising higher as his rival's head lolled in his grasp, completely and utterly unresponsive to the rough handling.

Sonic's Chaos energy was growing erratic, the small amount the younger naturally generated flailing wildly within the lithe form, reacting to it's owner injured state. As a master in Chaos manipulation, Shadow would have tried to forcefully stabilise the energy, but a part of him worried that it would worsen the young hedgehog's condition. He didn't know what was happening; this was entirely new. His lack of knowledge he frustrated the dark warrior.

For a moment the ebony male thought he saw something, a black spot on Sonic's forehead, but the moment the black hedgehog blinked it was gone and when he leaned in to get a closer look, all he found was grime, probably from being thrown across the landing pad of the spaceship. The red streaked warrior frowned, slipping his hands beneath thin blue knees and a fawn shoulders before getting up, his rival's rasping breath echoing like nails against a blackboard in his ears. Sonic's head rested against his shoulder, the fake gravity of the ship making the blue eyelids slide down and cover the glassy green eyes.

It almost looked as if his rival was sleeping, but the Ultimate Lifeform knew better.

(Why was he even this scared?)

Glancing back towards his enemy, Shadow's frown deepened as he noticed the crackling colors bouncing against the black shield protecting the creature. The iridescent energy was running across the dark surface, leaving behind thin, long cracks as it spread through the wall, gleaming with a inner golden light. Even from here he could sense the cold that was emitted from the new energy. Shadow knew instinctively that touching it would be less than pleasant for himself.

The phenomenon confused him.

It almost seemed as if Dark Oak's attack was turning against its creator, but why? What _was_ it, even? It certainly wasn't Chaos energy; it felt too different to be so...

A sound from behind him startled him out of his thoughts; looked at the source of the commotion just in time to see a familiar human boy clad in protective gear running towards him with a worried expression. Once the frantic child was close enough, he wordlessly gave the limp, unresponsive hedgehog in his arms to the boy before reluctantly turning away towards the cause of all their problems. His eyes narrowed on the massive black orb, a contemplative expression on his face. His ears remained folded back, catching the sound of the human's footsteps as he hurried back inside, the blue fool clasped protectively against his chest.

 _I wonder, did our opponent expect this reaction from him...?_

xxxxxxxxxx

Sonic's vitals were sluggish, and his breaths were uneven. Chris' eyes narrowed as he looked away from the prone form on the metal table, his eyes narrowing as he looked over the data that rolled into the screen hovering next to the bed. Save his lungs, every other system was acting in slowly, as if frozen in time...and the azure hedgehog's skin was incredibly cold. Chris couldn't make heads or tails of this strange phenomenon.

He growled lowly from the back of his throat and looked back at the limp hero, almost as if everything that was happening was his fault. Knowing the idiot's luck, it probably was. The human was so going to tie the idiot to the bed and confine him there for the following month. That would force the fool to take care of himself.

(If he survived, that is.)

Chris felt like screaming out and dying at this point _._ He felt as if his rapidly beating heart was going to explode from stress.

"What the is was this!?" The human ended up snarling, glaring at the screens in front of him as if they were the cause of his misery.

Other times he would have apologised for his language, but right now that was the last thing on his mind. Besides, there wasn't anyone here -at least, anyone conscious- that could have reprimanded him for it...and if Sonic was still awake, the quirky blue hedgehog would have probably joined in.

The blond-red boy wanted to howl in frustration and rip his hair off. He spend years training in diverse subjects and while he wasn't a doctor, he knew more than enough to put one to shame. And yet this was the first he had to do tend to Sonic by himself and he had no idea what to do or where to start! _Then again, I trained to take care of humans._ A tiny blue hedgehog had a biology that was completely alien to him. Sighing, Chris closed his eyes and reached our for his friend, cradling his hand close, more to comfort himself than the unconscious speedster.

Only to feel something similar to glass slide against his skin.

 _What...?_ He opened his eyes, slowly blinking away the blinding light coming the medical bay's ceiling.

Chris wasn't ashamed to say that he stared.

Sonic's arm was transparent.

Lke glass or a clear-cut gem or a statue made of ice, the hedgehog's arm had suddenly transformed into something akin to glass. The soft fawn fur was gone; the only thing that remained was a limb that was seemingly made purely out of a pale, slightly foggy diamond. Chris could see veins made out of soft white light traveling beneath the hedgehog's morphed skin. Occasionally, the white material would bloat slightly in certain areas before bursting into a multitude of colors that quickly traveled across the strange network of crisscrossing veins.

Wide blue eyes traveled up the arm, noting how the fluffy peach pelt was gone, leaving a bare limb with no detail, smooth and cold like glass. At the shoulder joint the skin and fur was still there; iridescent flames danced over the skin, between the organic and the transparent material. A soft crackle brought his attention to Sonic's torso; he looked at the fawn chest just in time to see the fawn and blue fur begin smoking, skin darkening to a purplish black and twisting unnaturally in a way that should have sent the hero screaming in agony before it went up in multicolored fire. Beneath, the same translucent material greeted him.

This time however the veins were more present, crossing over each other in a strange network, and for a moment he thought he saw something in the inside, a large, pulsing glob of iridescent light, before he had to lean away as part of Sonic's quills, neck and left foot were covered in fire, leaving a similar clear, see-through mass behind. The flames felt cold, colder than winter, and Chris shivered, unable to stop himself from winching at the freezing temperature.

Something told him that bad things would happen if the process was completed.

"Tails!"

xxxxxxxx

It was cold.

It was cold and soothing and everything in between. Sonic felt the light against his chest, in his chest, jade eyes sliding shut at the empty feeling that washed over him, banishing his fears and worries into the shadows of his mind.

 _(Warm. Safe. Sanctuary.)_

Despite the fact he had no idea where he was and what was happening, the Blue Blur felt strangely at ease. He tried shifting his weight so he could get up. His body stayed the way it was, stretched out in this unknown place, stubbornly refusing to pay heed to his command. Normally it would make him panic, because if there was one thing he feared above all -except for water- it was being unable to move, unable to do want he wanted, and most importantly of all, unable to run.

 _I can't..._ A slight sting coming from his forehead made him wince. It burned, a sharp burn, unpleasant and, surprisingly enough, only mildly painful. It felt as if someone was poking him with a white-hot metal needle while he was stuffed with anesthetics. He tried to cry out, to move away, anything, but he was limp like a boneless doll, unable to do anything but face the pain, heat and the cold that seemed to mix together head-on.

And then the ground gave in beneath him, and darkness took over.

* * *

 **IMPORTANT: Slash is present. Sonadow.** **The pairings are mostly undecided besides that, so if you want a certain pairing just post a review or send me a PM.** **Broken Stream also takes place in the Sonic X universe, though I won't dive too much in the more complex aspects of the anime.**

 **NOTE: Small Easter eggs from Pokemon. Don't whine. I was in a Pokemon phase when I first started working out the kinks for this story. Not sorry at all, folks.**

 **I would say bite me, but the only one that gets to do so is my foul-tempered dog.**


	2. Maelstrom of Colors

Colors. That was the only thing he could see; they danced around him, blinding him with their bright shades as he fell for what seemed like an eternity. He couldn't help but stare. After all, it's not everyday he found himself falling through a literal rainbow. He didn't know whether to be terrified of free falling or angry about this sudden change of scenery. One part of him was all but shouting about how he didn't have the time to be here -as there was a giant plant monster trying to destroy all non-plant life in the universe. The other part of the Blue Blur's mind however wanted to know what was going on, more than returning to the spaceship he had crash landed on.

Because he was a curious person by nature, and falling through a whirlwind of colors definitively spiked his interest.

Though after what seemed a eternity of falling through this colorful abyss, the blue hedgehog was starting to think someone had slipped him something in his snacks without him knowing. Sonic wouldn't put it past Knuckles to do so. The echidna had a terrible temper.

Flipping on his back, the young hero looked up at the multicolored sky, pondering on what to do. He crossed his arms behind his head and closed in eyes, focusing on the small amount of Chaos he possessed. Shadow often mocked him how small and insignificant his reserves was, not to mention how little control he had over it, but the Ultimate Lifeform's insults only irked the sapphire male, who was good at adapting. Sonic reached out with his weak Chaos senses, letting his mind touch the whirlwind that had whisked him away from the Blue Typhoon.

Cold greeted him, swirling around him in a invisible embrace of numbing frost. Sonic forced down a shiver, opening his eyes once more, a gleam of resignation in the jade orbs. The cobalt speedster kept his expression neutral, but dismay was starting to take a hold of him. How could he escape this place? He had no Chaos Emeralds, nothing he could grab onto to save himself, and Sonic truly didn't feel like turning into a mush of blueberry when he finally reached ground.

A loud, sorrowful note drew his attention to his left, beyond the curtain of colors. His eyes widened when he noticed a large serpentine shape undulation lazily around him, hidden behind the tornado of colors. Sonic followed the shape warily, noting the incredible size of the unknown entity. It was at least ten times his size, with a pair of stubby arms and large white eyes.

 _This is getting more and more weird._ Sonic thought idly as he kept a sharp eye out for the creature following him. He continued to catch glimpses of other beings deep inside the whirlwind; forms and shapes of various sizes, phantoms the perplexed hedgehog could not grasp. At one moment it seemed as if the massive snake following him in his fall disappeared, and then in it's place there was a whale of sapphires, then a bird of rubies and fire. Sonic could only watch, midly terrified as the beast kept changing, growing larger and stranger with each new beast.

Just as he was starting to wish the ground just met his face already because he was getting bored as hell, all of the creatures suddenly vanished, and one last emerged from beyond the whirldwind, going through the barrier and flying around him in lazy circles. This one wasn't as massive as some of the shapes he'd witnessed, but it was the first he could fully see and that immediately raised alarms in his head.

It looked like a cross between a raptor bird and a fox, with wide, feathering white wings and a sharp snout; the eyes were as bright as sapphires, reminding him of Tails' own. The cobalt hedgehog yelped as it flew underneath him, the long fluffy feathers of it's back brushing against his fur. Instinctively he reached out, grabbing the thick feathers and clinging onto the broad shoulders of the beast. The fox-like head arched, deep blue glancing back at him, before the wide wings closed and the being began diving down, unconcerned of the tiny blue hedgehog clinging for his life on it's back.

"S-slow down!" Sonic half-shouted as the air whipped his quills in dissaray. He crouched against the pale feathers, trying to protect himself from the howling winds.

How high was he? The only time he choked on the wind like this was when he ran faster than the speed of sound; how high in the atmosphere (if this was a planet) was he?

His mount made no move to speak or acknowledge his presence, the only sounds echoing in the blue ears of the hero being the shrieking winds and the powerful beats of the thing's wings. Sonic narrowed his eyes on the abyss below, seeing nothing but a multitude of colors. While the hedgehog was a bit of a daredevil, even he felt dread upon looking down at the vast expanse of colors.

Great. What was going to happen now? Endless falling? He nudged his companion's back, trying to gain the attention of the creature. The winged being ignored him completely, too absorbed in it's task to bother communicating with him. As childish as it was, Sonic felt insulted.

Should he jump off?

...no, maybe not. There was nothing else around him; leaving his safe heaven would only meant returning to falling eternally in this abyss of colors.

Unknown to him, the white beast had a entirely different plan in mind. Quite suddenly, the feeling of warm feathers underneath his hands disappeared. Sonic's eyes widened as he found himself free-falling once more, a small shout leaving him as his mount vanished into thin air beneath him. He was once again falling to his death, limbs flailing about uselessly, and felt just as irritated as before, maybe even more seeing how abandoned he was feeling.

Because if you decide to carry someone through a abyss, you didn't get to quit in midair. The only one that had the right to do that was Tails, and that was because the fox _never dropped him so high up he couldn't see the ground._

"Come on! Hedgehogs can't fly, dammit!" The panicked hero shouted at the tornado of colors, glaring into the storm and trying to find his winged companion in it. "This is crap! I thought we had a moment, pal!"

There was no answer, but the Blue Blur still felt mocked.

Just when he was about to scream out in frustration the rainbow around him faded, leaving behind a vast emptiness of white.

xxxxxx

"Tails! I need your help, _now_!"

At the sound of the loud, panicked cry many heads turned at the sharp smack of a door snapping open. Cream whimpered from her sitting position on the floor, the terrified rabbit still recovering from the stress of the events. Amy sat by her side, trying her best to comfort the bunny, but failing as she was just as scared at the child.

Tails stood up from his seat at the cockpit of the Blue Typhoon, wincing as his body ached at the movement. Dark Oak had stopped draining their lifeforce after Sonic and Shadow had lost their enhanced form, so they were now left in what seemed to be a standoff. While the vulpine was grateful for the respite, he was wary of what came next. His brother was in the infirmary, unconscious from what Shadow had communicated, which made them even more vulnerable to the Metarex leader's next move.

He smoothly walked down the stairs, heading to the flustered redhead, who looked as if he was in the verge of kneeling over by a heart attack.

"What's wrong...?" Tails began, trailing off when he noticed a spot of blue held against the the human's shirt. Wheezing breaths left the figure, but beyond that the creature remained lifelessly dangling in the boy's grasp.

The dishevelled and utterly panicked Chris had burst in from the left doorway, his eyes wide with worry as he cradled a small, limp blue object against his chest. The blond boy was panicking, hopelessness written clearly across his face. It was with horror that the members of the Blue Typhoon crew recognised the Blue Blur laying lifelessly in Chris' shaking, arms.

"What happened?!"

Amy's shrill cry echoed through the chamber as the pink hedgehog desperately reached out for the object of her affection. The distressed girl hesitated when Chris narrowed his eyes in warning, the protective side of the young human making him curl inwards, hiding the limp form in his grasp protectively. Cream shivered at the dismaying sight, hiding her face in Cheese's back in a attempt to look away. The Chao let his owner seek comfort with him, his little beady eyes filled with genuine concern as he watched the interaction between Mobians from the rabbit's lap.

Only Knuckles and Tails had the mental strength to come closer to the panicking blond boy, who was trying his best to stay calm, shivering as the cold of his charge slowly sapped the warmth from his own body, turning his skin frosty and making his limbs shake from the numbing temperature. Despite his discomfort he kept quiet about it, more worried about the sickly mobian in his arms than the fact his lips were turning blue.

"What happened, kid?" Knuckles said guffly as he peered at the blue hero, only for Chris to shy away, unable to come up with the right words to explain the situation.

"I don't know!" The blond cried out, a slight quake of panic travelling his frame. "I brought him to the medical bay and this started happened! I don't know how to stop it!" He said shakily, looking in the verge of tears. Chris opened his arms slightly, allowing the two mobians to see the tiny blue hedgehog held protectively against his shirt.

The young hero was as pale as death, laying limp against the panicking human, unaware of the distress he was causing as he struggled to breathe. Unfortunately, Chris unveiled his charge to the other mobians just in time for the horrified sapiens to see half of Sonic's face bursting aflame with blue flames that burned the skin and flesh away, leaving behind a exact replica made out of delicate, transparent crystal that gleamed beautifully under the white lights.

Knuckles stilled at the sight, unable to believe what he saw, and Tails looked as if he was trying to choke down a cry.

"What is that?!" The red echidna exclaimed as he reached out and guided the blond boy so he could lay the half-crystallized Blue Blur on a nearby metal table.

Chris did so as gently as he could, as if he thought moving slowly would prevent the hedgehog from transforming even further, while explaining everything he knew about what was happening. It was then that, as if to mock him, Sonic's right leg and foot underwent the change as well, leaving it's organic composition to turn into that strange, transparent one. The shoes burned away, leaving behind a small foot adorned with sharp, crystalline claws.

The Thorndyke grit his teeth in frustration as he watched the two examine the unconscious hedgehog, their confusion evident in their body movements. It was obvious that they were just as lost as he was, and he hated it. The blond felt helpless; he had done everything he knew to get an answer, every scan available on the gigantic spaceship, but it had been useless. All he knew was it wasn't caused by Chaos energy; it was cold, and made Sonic's internal temperature fall to abyssal levels. And finally, it repelled any introduction of Chaos into the hedgehog's systems with a vengeance.

Finishing his speech, Chris paused, backing away from the Mobians. "Should I get Eggman?" He asked hesitantly, gesturing towards the door. While he hated the crazed scientist, the Thorndyke was anything but stupid. The last Robotnick might be a vile creature, but he was smart and resourceful, as well as very knowledgeable in Chaos energy. If someone could help, the fat human could.

...but what if he can't...? Blue eyes stared down at the half-mobian, half-crystal being Sonic had become. What can we do?

Unknowing of the blond's distressing thoughts, but feeling the same dismay as the human, Tails sighed, head lowering heavily and light blue eyes closing in defeat. At his side, Knuckles looked just as defeated as the yellow fox, frustration in the purple orbs as he stared down at the unconscious form of his friend.

It was apparent they had no idea how to fight this phenomenon.

"Go fetch him. I can't offer an explanation of what is happening...maybe he can."

xxxxxxx

Wind whipped against his face as Sonic regained consciousness, only to make the lovely discovery that he was free falling. He couldn't the ground from up here, which meant the chances of crashing into the floor and breaking every bone, organ and muscle in his body were quickly rising.

(Sometimes he wished he'd let Tails build that jetpack. This was one of those occasions.)

Balancing himself on his back, the cobalt hedgehog prepared for one of the roughest landings of his life. The young hero would have adopted the safest pose to survive a fall but since it was crashing legs first into the ground Sonic ignored it altogether. The speedster knew that he would never survive long if his legs were ruined, and it wouldn't be due to the lack of mobility making him vulnerable to any attackers; no, Sonic valued his freedom above all, and the mere idea of losing the speed that granted him such lack of restraints made his blood run cold.

The sapphire one would rather die than lose his legs.

Time for a rough landing... Uncertain jade orbs glanced down despite the howling winds; the keen eyes quickly spotted the approaching ground, a mass of black and white that he couldn't make out completely. It looked like stone though, so the cobalt hedgehog curled onto himself, green eyes sliding shut as their body tensed, readying his mind and body for the inevitable impact.

What he didn't expect was for the howling winds to be silenced as his fall ended short, all while lacking the obvious lack of pain that came from crashing into the floor.

Squinting one dubious eye open at this miracle, the puzzled hero looked around, confused. The cerulean hero found himself hovering atop of a smooth floor, his body having come to an abrupt stop a mere inch from the ground. Sonic blinked at the curious sight, perplexed at the bold defiance of gravity, only to grunt as the strange phenomenon was cut short, the strings snapped by a phantom set of scissors, the sudden return of Newton's law sending him sprawling against the stone.

Ow. _This hurt._ It was still better than being reduced to a pancake, but in his defense the floor was ridiculously cold.

(There was no need to complain. At least he hasn't been squashed.)

Rising to his feet, the cerulean warrior stretched his back with a satisfied groan, feeling his spine crack under the strain. He examined his surroundings with genuine wonder, eager to make sense of the world around him.

Looking up, the cobalt speedster realized one thing. He was pretty sure that the arching, elegant stone ceiling hanging above his head wasn't there before. Huh. Vanishing ceilings. Who would have thought.

The Blue Blur filed this strange phenomenon for later. Examining the chamber around him, the young hero realized that there were more pressing matters.

For starters, the place was massive. Sonic did a full spin around, taking in the enormous proportions of the room with surprise.

Tall, heavy stone columns emerged from the floor around him, their ornate bases gleaming under a sourceless light. It took a moment for the Blue Blue to realize that the strange shine on the mosaics decorating the lower section of the columns was due to the uncountable number of shimmering, priceless jewels that decorated each of the spires, casting colorful shades onto the smooth stone floor.

Speaking of the said floor, the sapphire youth noticed that it was just as white as more than half of the temple-like chamber; it was highly probable that it made in a material that was or closely resembled marble. In middle of the hall however the floor changed, decorated with a large, ominous mosaic that made him stare. Obsidian black swirled around pearl white, two drops of opposite colors seemingly chasing after their counterpart's tail. A thin hoop of gold boxed the structure, making it stand out even more.

The lost hedgehog turned around, examining the scene from every possible angle, amazed at just how fine and perfect the entire room seemed. Oddly enough, the young hero noted that he had landed perfectly in the middle of the circle.

 _...sonic..._

Chaos damn it, that was creepy. Whirlwind around, the cobalt speedster bared his fangs at thin air as his name was softly whispered into his ears by a seemingly unknown force. His ears twitched as he grew more and more irritated, not knowing how to react as the voice came for him a second time, oblivious to his growing nervousness:

 _...sonic...over here..._

Dark blue quills twitched as their owner began feeling restless, the sharp spikes rattling lightly at the blue hedgehog's unease. Ever since he could remember, Sonic had to constantly live under the threat of attacks from Eggman, and any other being that had a problem with him -and there was a growing list- so his spines always stuck up, softening only when he was with his friends or relaxing, yet it was only in sleep that they were truly, fully down, falling against his back in a cascade of shimmering sapphire fur. Now they were stuck even higher than usual, ready to stab into the source of their owner's nervousness.

"Hello?! Come out! Whoever you are, it's not funny! This is not a horror movie!"

 _You already know us..._

"I think I would remember having a second stalker."

 _...Holder..._

The voice had a hint of a threat now, the being behind it growing irritated by the sapphire hedgehog's words. Nevertheless Sonic kept pushing, hoping to annoy the creature enough for it to come out into the open. It was a stupid idea, but it worked wonderfully with Eggman.

"What, it's true! You got the whole thing down, pat! Creepy voice, empty room and silly echoes everywhere! You, mister, have started your stalking career perfectly!" Sonic tutted softly, hands resting on his hips. "Wait. One thing. Do you have binoculars? It's in every starter kit."

 _...you're hopeless..._

Sonic smirked like a fox as he hear the loud, heavy sigh of defeat and irritation. He could almost hear the other roll his eyes in exasperation at his comment, and it made him proud that even in the strangest situations he could still riddle up his opponents. The cobalt hero mulled over his next words, choosing them carefully. It seemed it was time to go in for the kill.

He was going to enjoy this.

"...you should also stop trying to impersonate every cheep horror movie ever created. It's not going to work. Ever. People have been doing that shit too much; its out of date now." The young hero continued, torn between chuckling at his mysterious companion's exasperation and being angry for being brought to this place.

The voice did not response.

There was a long, silent pause where Sonic waited less than patiently, taping his shoes on the marble floor as he awaited the While he liked using ridiculous banter to throw off his opponents, let it be in the battlefield or in everyday life, it didn't take away the seriousness of the situation.

"In our defence, Vicini was the one who suggested the creepy whispering." A snarky voice suddenly pipped in from his right, shattering the silence and making every tuff of cobalt fur on the Blue Blur's body stand up.

"Gha!"

He did not jump away screaming like a child at the sudden voice inches from his ear. That never happened. Sonic the Hedgehog was never caught off guard, nor did he squeak. Ever.

"...in my defence, you suggested messing with his aquaphobia."

It was followed by several mumbles coming from every possible direction. Sonic looked around, his mouth slowly falling open as he took in the sights around him. Mobians. Lots of them...or at least something similar. Definitively humanoid, at the very least, roughly around the size as he was.

A large amount of them had suddenly appeared all around him, without any flashes of light or other supernatural phenomenons that warned him of their arrival. They were just...there, suddenly populating the room and assaulting his eyes.

Some of them looked like mobians, but they looked...off? Sonic couldn't explains it; these beings just seemed different. Unusual.

(Familiar, a small part of him muttered, the thought fading away into the darkest corners of his mind.)

Some were of dull colors such forest green or a deep brown, and some others had truly strange traits and bright pelt shades it seemed like if he had somehow stumbled upon a group of rainbows -or a parade. Either way, the sudden crowd was an eyesore that left him stunned, blinking dazedly at the vivid colorations and wonder once more where in the name of Chaos he was.

The one who spoke first was taller than the Blue Blur, with a burning yellow pelt that almost blinded the poor speedster, and dark honey eyes that glowed with life. His quills were short but sharp, thinner than Sonic's, and flared out at every direction possible like the twigs that made up a bird's nest. The male was also older than the azure, and wore a open long coat made out of black leather with yellow insides that nearly touched the ground. Around his neck dangled a pair of white headphones, with the cable disappearing inside one of the longcoat's many pockets.

The second was even stranger. He was about Sonic's size, with almost glowing orange fur and two long quills flowing out of the back of his head. His eyes held no pupils or irises, and were a pale blue that reminded the Blue Blur of a clear sky. Though when he looked more closely, he could see the middle of the stranger's eyes was a bit paler than the rest, marking where his pupils would be. He wore long white gloves adorned with a single gold cuff on each arm, and possessed blue runner shoes, not unlike his eye color, with a single vertical stripe and grey bottoms.

The second hedgehog was smirking down at Sonic, while the first had a insufferable smile on his face. Sonic was known as one hedgehog that liked saying what he thought.

"You're strange."

"I'm suffering from withdrawn." The longcoat wearer replied with a dry tone, still smiling as he did so.

At Sonic's wide-eyed stare, the orange hedgehog with the large blue eyes chuckled. "Lightos didn't allow him to listen to his beloved music during this meeting. Cue the want to mess with your hydrophobia."

The sapphire's eyes could not grew larger than this. Not many knew about his hydrophobia. Only a handful of people knew about his weakness, so how did these guys know?

"Who? How-?!" He took a step back, nearly bumping into another of the creatures as alarmed green eyes darted around, looking for a answer -or a escape. "How can you know about that?!" It was supposed to be private! The few who knew of this were his friends...!

"Enough."

A white hedgehog suddenly walked up to them, her firm voice plunging the room into silence. She was taller than even the yellow-themed male, with long, thin quills and a sharp, pale muzzle. Her face had high cheeks and sharp, slanted eyes that gave her a noble look. Her eyes were blue, calm yet attentive, sharp like steel. A long, white robe with thin, elegant red markings were sown into the soft fabric clinging to her person, adding to that noble vibe that came off the woman in waves.

Sonic eyed her warily. The way she had silence the two creatures had been unsettling.

"I have tolerated your antics, and I believe it is now time to tell the boy why he is here."

The cobalt hedgehog knew without a doubt in his mind that this person was the leader.

"Yes, Lightos." The orange mobian, Vicini, drawled while rolling his eyes -not that you could notice unless you were standing a feet away from the pupiless being. Forced to look up due to the sheer height of the white furred creature, Sonic stared at the newcomer in slight wonder and worry, a tiny voice at the back of his mind spluttering, much like a dying radio, that he knew the white-furred female.

"Alright." The newcomer named Lightos stared intensity at him; the blue hedgehog had to restrain himself from fidgeting under the ice cold gaze. "It's not like I understand whatever is going on, where I am, and who you are, but I really, truly need to get back. Now." His voice grew more firm. "I was kind of trying to save the universe. If you haven't noticed, keeping it from being overrun by a crazy plant is a job I need to finish."

The white mobian made a small grimace at this. "We cannot send you back."

"What?" Sonic growled, eyes narrowing as he glared at the female. "Why?"

"Because it is out of our jurisdiction. We are not the ones that are causing your sudden transformation." Lightos sighed. "Brave one, we have dragged your mind here to prevent you from going mad from the pain. Your body is still inside that odd sky ship." Sonic blinked once, twice. Who were these people...?

"How did you do that?" Was one of them psychic? He'd heard of mobians having unusual abilities, but one glance at these creature reassured him of the fact that these beings weren't of his specie at all.

"One of us pulled your mind out of your body, sparing you great pain as the seal is burned off." The white hedgehog pointed towards another, who stood farther away and seemed isolated from the others, and Sonic couldn't being himself to blame them for standing away from her.

It was a mobian of undetermined gender, with fur of a blue shade so pale it was almost ash grey. She wore a modest white dress that reached her bare feet. It was the strangest creature he had seen from this mismatched group so far. It's left eye was a deep blue, determined and unrelenting, full of life and need to prove oneself. Yet, the left eye was different a pale shade of pink that reminded Sonic of the sakura trees he had seen while visiting the east countries. It was a soft shade of pink, one that was calm and peaceful. The eye shape was, just like the eye, different from the other, which was larger, wider and not unlike Sonic's. It was slimmer, more feminine, with longer lashes and a tint of black around it's edges.

What truly set this person apart however was that above the nose what seemed to be a eyelid grew vertically on it's forehead. To make it stranger than it already was - and to the blue hedgehog's silent horror- it was stitched shut by a thick black rope. The distinct lack of blood, let it be fresh or dried, was lacking, signifying the appendage had be sewed shut for a great length of time.

"What seal?" Even with the determination that had taken a hold of him, as well as the urgent need to get answers, Sonic was barely able to tear his gaze off the three-eyed being.

The being's exchanged glances, as if silently debating how to answer. Sonic looked around and glowered as many of them avoided his gaze like the plague. Even the woman named Lightos had her unnerving blue eyes closed, her unusually long ears flicking as in deep thoughts.

"Are you going to answer, or are we going to stand here all day?" Sonic growled lowly as he looked around. He was getting annoyed by this. He had a Metarex to defeat, damn it! He couldn't afford to remain...where ever this was!

A low amused snort made him blink, realize someone was mocking his situation and snarl loudly. Looking around, the blue speedster spotted a tall male looking at him with disgust evident in his eyes. The hedgehog was of an thin, muscled built, more bulky than himself, with rust red fur and long quills that grew wildly out of his head. The male's eyes were dark purple, sharp and dangerous. He reminded the young hero of Knuckles. Brash and hotheaded.

(Hopefully that last term wasn't going to be literal. He had other things to do than fight a maniac -such as beating up another maniac.)

"Got something to say to me, brat?" Sonic drew to his full heigh and gave the creature a displeased scowl that would make even Shadow proud. He was Sonic the Hedgehog, dammit! Not some measly little kit! Did this idiot really think he could intimidate him. Glaring right back at the offending redhead, the azure hero watched as the adult opened his mouth, getting ready to bite back-

"Ignore my asshole of a father, Sonic." The orange mobian, Vicini, suddenly stated behind him in a nonchalant way. "He...Kasai has always been sour with your kind."

"...but he's a hedgehog too." Sonic offered lamely, not grasping the logic of such statement. Sonic could almost hear Lightos' cold sapphire eyes snap open at his words. He didn't need to look at the white hedgehog to know she was looking at him.

"Hmm. You should look closer, little one." The female hedgehog smiled softly, a sudden change that took him off guard and made him wary. Sonic looked up at her in apprehension, his muscles already tensing to take off and run. "Then again...explanations won't help us here." She stared down at him, her eyes darkening.

"Remembering will." The orange male called Vicini finished for her, making the Blue Blur glance at him in confusion. The apricot hedgehog-thing ignored him and looked at Lightos. "Leader, I want to become his Guardian."

"What the hell are you talking abou-"

"Hmm...it is a interesting thought." Lightos cut him off, forcing Sonic to stand on the side of the conversation. The azure hero huffed irritated, but stayed silent in hopes of getting more information. "Are you sure you are up to the task? Even if his form settles, it will take a few years for your life forces to separate."

"I failed once, I'm not going to fail again."

"Very well." Lightos nodded slowly, taking a step away from the Blue Blur and allowing the blue-eyed male to step closer to the hero. On the sidelines, the crimson male, Kasai, hissed irritably before he whirled around and walked away. The crowd parted in his path, some glaring with distaste at him. Sonic noted that; it seemed as if the creature wasn't that liked among his kin.

"Don't speak." Sonic opened his mouth to speak but was once more cut off by the apricot hedgehog, Vicini. The emerald-eyed speedster glared, and fumed even more as the other ignored him. "I need to concentrate." One of the orange's gloved hands rose, and he placed a single digit on the cobalt mammal.

Sonic snarled, eyes narrowing at the unwanted physical contact. He felt the urge to slap the offending limb away, but a sudden lethargy overtook his limbs, weighting him down. Panic rose as his body refused to move.

"What are you-!"

His eyes widened, glazing over as blue light began emitting from the single finger. His sight was gone; all he could see was light, light of any and every color. It rushed at him, enveloping him in a warm embrace, leaving feeling cozy and loved.

The cobalt speedster yelped and tried to run, only to grimace as he noticed there were no more floor, no walls, no ceiling, nothing but colours.

 _What was this...?_

Darkness.

(...he was starting to hate this.)

xxxxxxxxx

"Something has changed." A soft, lonely voice muttered as their owner overlooked her prison with lazy, half-lidded blue orbs.

Her eyes slowly turned towards her tenant, examining the watery beast's behaviour. The creature was sitting away from her, head bowed low, glowing pale jade eyes rived on the floor that made up the cage existing inside the Master Emerald.

Here, the Chaos Field wasn't erratic and wild, responding to the emotions of the mortals, but rather calm, peaceful and commanding. It was this peaceful place Tikal had made her home, and she was here to stay.

It was in this comforting aura that Chaos slept for hundreds of years until the round human had awoken him. The watery being that had been once a Chao hated the man just as much as it had hated the leader of the echidnas. When it was released from it's prison inside the Master Emerald, it had been so confused, so lost, it decided to follow the scientist.

It had been a decision it regretted even now. The transparent beast looked up at Tikal, who stared deep into the water monster's bright jade eyes.

"You know what it is, don't you?" The echidna turned spirit explained, her eyes narrow as she tried to determine if what disturbed their peaceful slumber was dangerous. "The coldness, the lights..."

Chaos mumbled lowly, looking away from his old friend. It was far more ancient than the female; the water spirit had more experience with the Cold. It knew what it was. The Thing that Created. It had been so long since it had felt it. Being made purely made out of Chaos energy, it had become aware of the small specks of light that clung to the world around it, sleeping and waiting to be awakened.

It had felt the touch of Ether mere moments after it had first come to contact with the power of the Master Emerald, thousands of years ago. It had taken a thousand more before Chaos had felt a bearer of Cold for the very first time, a being that made the iridescent lights flutter, pulsing with life.

...but the last time it had felt the fresh presence of the Cold was more than forty years ago, when it's presence slipped away, leaving it bathed in the warmth of the Master Emerald.

What was it doing here, and why now?

(Things were changing. Chaos didn't know if it was for the best.)

* * *

 **The OC presented in this chapter will be important, but they won't be present at all save one. Most will be only mentions. Canon characters are more important, and besides, I got a crapload from the comics, games and tv shows to choose from.**


	3. Newfound

_"Mister, do you have some food I could have?"_

 _Honestly, he was genuinely surprised to see the man pause. From the smooth, unwrinkled clothes to the healthy pallor of the human's skin, the young blue hedgehog knew ; normally one such as wealthy looking as this human was would usually rush away from him. The little hedgehog peered curiously at the tall man, noticing how he wore thick black glasses._

 _He was a very good judge of character; the eyes of a person told him everything he needed to know. This man had those strange bulky glasses, however, so he was unsure to how to proceed. The young mobian peered up at the man, squinting as the light of the sun threatened to blind him._

 _Well, the man was handsome, that he'll admit. The human had a healthy pale complexion of someone that didn't go outside often and clean, silky ebony hair. He wore a heavy clean coat the color of night, and he had large leather boots. All in all, he was dressed appropriately for the chilling weather of Christmas Island._

 _The azure hoglet let out an unwilling shiver as a blast of icy wind threatened to knock him off his feet. Even with his urgent need to find shelter however the boy resisted; this man, if he was in a good enough mood could give him a few rings or some scraps of food. The child had no problem being outside for a few more minutes if there was a possibility, as small as it was, that this human could give him some food._

 _The only problem was that he was staring at him in a eerie blank expression on his face._

 _"What's your name, kit?" The strange asked in a relaxed manner. Azure ears perked at the name the man used to address him. Normally humans said boy, child or kid (or rat) to address him. Few were those that understood the cultural differences between their specie and the mobians._

 _I should answer him. He shifted around, uncomfortable. Well, there goes nothing. "I...don't have one." The little cobalt child muttered, feeling blood rush to his cheeks in shame._

 _The man seemed to eye him further for a moment, seeing something the hoglet couldn't even begin to comprehend._

 _He then smiled._

 _The mobian was caught off guard by it, and even more by what happened next. He noticed with confusion that the man had pulled out a long, thin metal object and was waving it in front of him._

 _"What's that?" He asked, warily eyeing the contraption. The young mobian took a step back, unsure if he should run away from this human._

 _The little hoglet knew he could outrun the man with ease. He could be pretty fast if he wanted to, and he knew he could be faster if he had better shoes -the discarded old ones he wore had lots of holes, and if he wasn't careful the little speedster often found himself with bloodied feet and in need of a new pair of footwear. For a street urchin like him, good clothes were as impossible to obtain as a full belly._

 _The human seemed to examine the strange device, and his grin broadened into a pleased smirk. He stuffed the machine back into his coat, and pulled out a small, wooly blanket from one of the pockets. The male then kneeled down in front of the confused child and wrapped the cloak around him, his smile growing as he heard the tiny creature sight in relief at the sudden warmth._

 _"How about I give you one, hmm?" The taller creature offered, making the hedgehog's eyes widen in surprise. The tiny emerald eyes looked up at the man in utter consternation, to which the human laughed. "Come along, kit. Let's get you out of this traitorous weather." He got up and began walking away, not looking back to see if the small child was going to follow him._

 _He didn't need to._

 _For a moment the tiny, starving mobian stared after the retreating man, his brain suddenly caught up with what was happening and he rushed after the human, desperate for the slightest ounce of companionship. The kit quickly made his way to the elder's left side, letting the taller creature's heavy hand rest against his right shoulder, pulling him closer together as they walked away towards the wealthier neighbourhoods._

 _He never bothered to ask why did the man have a child-sized cloak in the first place._

 _xxxxxxx_

 _Breathe in._

 _Breathe out._

 _Dull jade eyes fluttered open, ebony pupils shrinking to needle points as faded carmine invaded and took over the bright green orbs._

 _He tore though the landscape, iridescent lights dancing on his fingertips as he slammed into his target. The creature cried out, sapphire eyes flinching shut as the coated fingertips of his attacker stabbed into his left shoulder, snapping the bone out of it's socket. Before he could recover the azure hedgehog leapt back with a skillful backflip, gracefully landing on his hands._

 _His legs spun, naked feet suddenly bursting aflame with multicoloured fire before smashing across the being's face, sending it flying across the chamber and denting the metallic wall. He laid there, spend, chest rising and falling quickly as the immortal struggled to regain his breath._

 _"...urgh...I'm..." The creature faltered, panting hoarsely as he tried to steady himself, holding his skinless, burnt cheek and moaning in pain as the resulting pain that came with the action. Nevertheless his eyes narrowed, apricot fire lighting his fists as he took a fighting stance. The other merely stared, silent as a statue, a eerie blank expression gracing his face. "...I'm just getting...started!" The humanoid charged at the ashen one, intent on ending the puppet's miserable life._

 _Blinding iridescent light exploded in his vision, making the creature stumble back. Hazy blue eyes blinked profusely, struggling to adjust themselves after the sudden illumination. He snarled, stumbling and nearly falling to his knees._

 _A large talon thrice his size suddenly pressed down on his body, making him cry out and collapse under the weight. He wasted no time, snarling and cursing as he tried to push the puppet off him. Looking up, he was greeted with a bulky winged creature with feathers as white as bone and bright blue eyes that were covered in a thin sheet of red._

 _He offered the thing a feral smile._

 _Fire exploded from his body, surging up and licking at the massive, fox-like white snout. The creature growled, arching it's neck away from the burning apricot fire. Dull ruby eyes flashed vividly and a melodious howl escaped the beast as it's wings spread, carrying it away from the mass of flames._

 _He shakily rose from his spot on the floor as the last of the fire died when he became unable to feed it any further, face still set in a cross of determination and fury. This time when his massive opponent shifted form again he was ready, raising a arm to his face and blocking the brilliant light that signalled the other's transformation. Dropping his arm, he was greeted with a familiar form standing at the other side of the room, the fur around edges of a fawn snout burnt and smoking._

 _Blue met dead ruby._

 _He grit his teeth and readied himself for the creature's attack. The last thing he expected however was for the grey hedgehog he was facing to vanish and for a pair of dull red eyes to suddenly materialize inches from his face._

 _"The fuc-" The fingers stabbing into his vulnerable chest, painfully digging into his flesh and burning it with the iridescent fire made him howl as he was thrown back, rolling across the floor like some boneless doll._

 _He looked up just in time for a fist to slam into his face, turning his nose into shreds with a ear-splitting crunch. The orange creature didn't even have the time to scream as a bare feet was sent flying into his stomach, causing him to spit out blood._

 _His attacker remained unconcerned and quiet as carmine liquid stained his pale grey pelt. Rather, his hand reached out to the defeated male, grabbing him by a quill and viciously dragging him to his knees, making the immortal cry out, the sound loud and broken as another hand was wrapped around his throat. He struggled feebly, hands rising up to frantically claw at the fawn arm, but he was unable to break free of the iron grip that could, at any moment, twist to the side and snap his neck as easily as one broke a twig._

 _The sound of a door opening behind them made the orange humanoid growl menacingly. He heard calm, measured footsteps and mentally braced himself for his second, more important target._

 _It wasn't everyday that he met a puppeteer._

 _"Pathetic. Is this all your kind can do?"_

 _The trapped being bristled at the insult, glaring at the newcomer from the corner of his pupiless eyes. The man was here, iridescent crimson eyes staring deep into his own sapphire ones with something akin to mirth._

 _"I expected more from you, but it seems I'll have to remedy that."_

 _Pale cobalt eyes narrowed as their owner hissed, low and menacing, daring the man to come closer. "What do you mean by that, bastard?!" The creature snarled, ignoring how the hand digging painfully into his neck was tightening considerably, threatening to tear skin at any given moment._

 _The human's smile broadened, a lazy, charismatic grin that glowed with malice._

 _"You'll be useless without better fighting instincts."_

 _The shimmering eyes of his enemy began to spin, kaleidoscope suns lighting the dark room with their brilliant shades of ruby and yellow._

 _He didn't have enough time to look away._

 _The last thing he saw was the dull eyes of the puppet shift from hollow scarlet to guilty green._

 _xxxxxxx_

 _There was something oddly familiar about his situation._

 _He tucked his legs closer to his chest, wincing as his stomach let out another wail of complaint. Dull emerald eyes watched the passing people, noting how they glanced at him before scurrying away as he if he carried a disease._

 _Sonic knew he was freaky looking. He didn't need to be reminded of his deformities, thank you very much._

 _His cobalt fur glinted oddly under the streetlight, an almost metallic shimmer emitting from the sapphire fur. His tail curled against his tights, twice as long as a normal hedgehog's. He couldn't look, but he knew that his eyes glowed a unearthly emerald green in the darkness of the desolated corner he sat in. His sharp, serrated blue quills lay flat against his head, digging with ease in the concrete wall he lay against._

 _Men and women alike shied away at his presence, and regrettably enough, the nameless hedgehog couldn't blame them for their actions. A flash of magenta caught his attention and his head perked up, curious._

 _It was a female hedgehog, barely older than he was, looking around as she was waiting for someone . She was wearing the dirty, ragged clothes of any other street rat, but the way she carried herself told the cobalt hedgehog a different story. A noble on the run? With Robotnick running around, it didn't surprise him at all. The wealthy had been the first to go into hiding or leave the Zone when the dictator had taken over the country._

 _The female hedgehog paused as she walked past his hiding spot, obviously noticing his glowing eyes and bright fur color contrasting against the darkness of the slums. Despite how often he rolled in the dirt, it always stayed a bright cobalt color._

 _"Whatcha doing outside, kid?" The girl eyed him as if he was an alien. He was used to it. Fur as bright and blue as his was beyond rare. He couldn't count the times human poachers tried to snag him off the streets for it. Dirtying the pelt only worked so much._

 _It was also, as he found out today, completely useless when it was raining._

 _"Judging the fact I'm sitting out here in the streets, in the rain mind you, I'd say I live here."_

 _"Ouch." The female mobian chuckled at his biting words. "What a mouth you have." She kneeled down at his side, a thin shimmering necklace dangling from her slender neck, the drum-shaped metal gleaming mysteriously despite the dark, damp skies. He unwillingly flinched, fawn cheeks reddening, uncomfortable under the girl's gaze. Usually nobody acknowledged his presence._

 _Well, that is until he stole something._

 _Then the whole of Robotropolis was after his ass._

 _"What do you want?" He bit out, little quills bristling as a reaction to his stress. The girl shrugged nonchalantly, suddenly plopping down at his side._

 _He recoiled at the sudden movement, freezing even more as her arm wrapped itself around his waist, pulling his lithe form closer. He tried to get away, to run, but she was deceptively strong. It wasn't like he was or something, but her arm didn't even budge despite how much he trashed around._

 _The fact that the girl kept smiling only made him angrier. "I like you." The female mobian said with a laugh, tightening her grip on him and earning a meek eep in response. His ears and cheeks unwillingly flushed at the compliment. It was the first time anyone had said anything positive regarding him, and the cobalt young did not know how to react._

 _"Huh...thanks?"_

 _"Hmm..." The girl merely hummed, the smile growing on her full lips. "I think I'm going to keep you." A wide-eyed stare was all she received for her troubles. The hedgehog grinned down at the cobalt boy, who stared back, green orbs as wide as saucers._

 _"...please tell me you're joking."_

 _"I'm afraid not, honey." She winked at him, a svelte finger reaching out and poking the hollow cheek of the underfed mobian. "You're cuddly as fuck. Like a teddy bear." She pinched his right cheek for good measure, earning a dark glower. The girl gave out a mad crackle. "Yes, I'll keep you. It will be perfect!"_

 _"I don't see anything positive in this." The blue hedgehog stated plainly as the violet females laughed airily._

 _"Aww, come on love." He grimaced at the honeyed words. "I get a cute little tike to take care of, and you get the best fucking sister in the world!"_

 _Wait, what?_

 _Sister?!_

 _...was this girl on drugs or something?!_

 _"Oh, hey Manic!"_

 _Oh gods, get her the fuck away! He made a move to inch away while the maniac female was occupied, but a purple hand shot out and grabbed his tail, earning him a painful tug and another slice of his dignity._

 _"Where have you been?!" The purple hedgehog continued as she swept an arm around the struggling blue child's waist and picked him up as easily as one would lift a doll. The sapphire boy snarled as kicked as he was placed on the teenager's shoulder._

 _He glared at the newcomer, ignoring the quiet giggling of his captor._

 _The purple female and this new hedgehog were obviously related despite their highly contrasting pelts. While the girl sported a bright, strong amethyst coloration, the other Mobian was as green as the leaves of a young tree, his vibrant fur contrasting greatly with his brethren._

 _"Around, Sonia." Manic exclaimed with amusement, eyeing the glowering blue ball glaring at him with all of his might from the shoulder of his sister. "Huh...sis? What did you catch now?"_

 _Sonia offered him a giddy smile._

 _"I got us a little brother!"_

 _The cobalt hedgehog choked._

 _"Heh?!"_

 _The only thing the blue hedgehog found positive about the situation was how utterly lost and shocked Manic was._

 _Everything else **sucked**_.


	4. Crystalline

"Interesting..."

"Have you seen anything similar?" Tails bit his lower lip as he watched Eggman fuss over the limp figure on the table. Sonic was now fully crystallized, his body glinting under the light of the cockpit of the Blue Typhoon. His eyes were closed, and the two-tailed fox hoped it wouldn't stay that way for long.

For a moment the human did not respond. He poked the transparent Sonic on the chest, his eyes glued to the center of the strange vein network. It was a ball of iridescent light that churned and boiled within the crystal mass that had been once flesh and bone.

"Sadly, no." Eggman finally answered as he moved his hand towards the hedgehog's right arm. He grabbed it with a peculiar gentleness, and careful lifted it, watching as the elbow flexed. His hand trailed to the speedster's own, and the curious scientist carefully moved each finger, noticing with a cringe how awfully smooth and sharp their tips were. He wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those.

The clothes had been eaten by the fire. Nothing had been left, but the pair of rings around his wrists. "This is very peculiar. As you can see, his limbs are still flexible, even after undergoing a process that clearly turned him to a mineral-based form. And those veins...I have no idea what they are, or what they channel, but it seemed that they disperse something around his body, like a mobian's natural energy or blood."

Eggman hummed loudly. "But the thing is, it's not gold like Positive Chaos, or purple-black like Negative Chaos energy...it's iridescent." At the confused looked a certain red echidna shot him, the man bend on world domination explained with a irritated sigh. Sometimes, he felt like he was surrounded by absolute idiots. "Multicolor. Anyways, we know Dark Oak caused this. Maybe it is the end result of him finishing to draw out energy within an organic, turning them into minerals...?"

Tails frowned, his eyes shifting from his prone brother to the massive, pulsating black orb that was Dark Oak. The plant-based life form had stopped drawing out their natural Chaos energy, to which the fox was grateful. He wouldn't be able to think if he was in constant pain. "But Sonic and Shadow was in Super mode when he got hit. Perhaps that created a reaction that caused this?"

Eggman shrugged. "And there is the fact that Shadow hasn't been affected..." The doctor mumbled, his thoughts going to the Ultimate Lifeform standing guard outside on the ship's landing pad.

"Maybe it takes more time, since Shadow has more Chaos energy?"

"It's a possibility." Rouge said, speaking for the first time. "But face it, honey. We don't know anything. We're just sprouting whatever comes out of the brain workshop...I say we get Big Blue back to the medical bay. Maybe if we do more tests...and there is Oak to worry about-" The white bat suddenly paused, her ears raising high. She looked away from the two scientist, and her aquamarine eyes landed on the limp transparent figure.

The rest of the crew followed her line of sight and stilled.

Sonic's eyes were fluttering.

The Mobians, the two humans and the lone Chao went still, waiting with silent breaths as the event unfolded. They watched in surprise as the transparent eyelids snapped open.

Colors.

Every color possible danced inside the once emerald green eyes; each of them squirmed and fluttered continuously, trying to take over and make themselves dominant, but the colors took over each other. It looked like an eternal, hopeless battle. Sonic's head slowly turned, empty iridescent eyes trailing over the tense organics that filled the room.

Tails took a hesitant step towards the crystalline male, his eyes wide with both fear and hope. "...Sonic? Are you alright?"

The transparent ears twitched, but the Blue Blur made no other movement to acknowledge that the young vulpine had spoken...when suddenly he was up, standing besides the bed and inches from Tails' face, who recoiled and screamed as the empty iridescent eyes seemed to burn into his own blue ones.

The other occupants of the room jumped back, tensing, and Eggman hid behind Knuckles as the crimson-furred Guardian yelled out. "What the hell do you think you-!"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by Sonic's mouth opening and a shrill cry emerging from the crystalline being, resembling a mixture between broken glass and a dying radio. Tails stilled as he noticed that the interior of brother's mouth's was the same iridescent shade as his eyes.

Rouge let out a cry of agony as she fell on her knees, clenching her sensitive ears in pain. Spurned by the winged thief's cries, Knuckles jumped forward with his barbed fist aimed towards Sonic, clearly intent on punching the transformed hedgehog on the chest.

Multicolored eyes narrowed to slits as they began to glow ominously. The white veins shimmered and Eggman wasn't the only one to see the danger, but he was the only one who tried to warn the rampaging warrior.

"Echidna, if you know what's good for you, don't take a single step closer!"

The guardian of the Master Emerald heard the warning, but he continued his charge. Obviously he wasn't going to pay heed to the human that had caused him more than once great pain in the past. He did realize the danger however, when Sonic's left hand stretched out, fingers fusing together as they formed a long, slim transparent blade.

Knuckles' combat experience was the only thing that saved him as Sonic arm flew around in a wild arc, a swipe aimed towards his neck. He gracefully threw himself to the side of the creature, rolling just in time to feel the coldness of the blade brush against the tip of his dreadlocks.

Amy let out a loud cry when the blade came to be; she flinched as the iridescent eyes settled on her. The blade split open, elongated fingers returning to a hand-shaped form. The crystal hedgehog took a step towards the pink female-

-when Dark Oak's familiar and painful drain sensation was suddenly on them, making them scream out as their bodies twisted in agony. Cream cried into her pet Chao at the pain, and Rouge swayed, threatening to collapse. Chris promptly fell on his knees and leaned against the wall of the cockpit, breathing heavily as if he was trying to dispel the nausea that washed over him.

Sonic made no move that showed he felt the pain. The haunting eyes turned away from the Mobians, and settled onto the massive ebony sphere. The crew of the Blue Typhoon knew what was going to happen before it did. The sound of breaking glass as the transparent Blue Blur flew through the cockpit's reinforced window towards Dark Oak still startled them, however.

The terrifying roar that came from Sonic's throat made everyone flinch, and they could hear Shadow outside yelling out in surprise. The air inside the Typhoon began to get sucked out into space, but Tails recovered just in time to activated the large, flat bots created solely for the purpose of such an incident. They were quick to cover the dent.

They watched as Sonic slammed into the black shield. The creature blinked as it was pushed back, before paused it's charge and stood in front of the orb. A hand lifted and it used it to probe the barrier separating it from the transformed Dark Oak. Energy crackled where the limb and the shield met, the later bending inwards as the creature pushed onwards with more force.

It's examination of the current obstacle done, the crystalline hedgehog floated back, letting go of the ebony black barrier. It snapped back into place as soon as the hero let go of it, and a ripple travelled the strange fabric, almost like a shiver.

The transparent hands rose once more, this time both; fingers lengthening, stretching into wide, graceful arcs that glimmered oddly with the iridescent light coming from within the being. For a while, the transformed hero stood there, eyes glued to his newfound opponent, the veins traveling it's body no longer slim and white, but twice as big and filled with that strange, colorful energy.

"What is he doing...?" Tails heard a low mutter from Eggman, who was standing besides him. The bald man got his answer soon enough. Lights began to flicker around the stretched fingers. The tiny specks of colored energy began gathering between the two open hands, cluttering together to form a orb of energy.

It grew, bigger and bigger until it was wider than the one that had willed it into existence. It was bright, like a miniature star, but most of all it looked solid and heavy, as if it would crush everything in it's path before detonating. Seemingly finding the massive sphere big enough for his taste, the Blue Blur pulled his morphed hands away from the orb. The glowing sphere was floating there, weightless, then iridescent eyes flashed and it was suddenly barreling towards Dark Oak's shield.

Several cries of relief and pain echoed through the Blue Typhoon as the organics felt the painful drain on their lifeforce lessen until it disappeared completely, but were blinded by the blast of light that washed over them. Underneath the deep thrumming as iridescent energy burst forth from the source of light and exploded outwards in a wave, and the lurching and groaning of the Blue Typhoon as it struggled to stay in one piece, they could hear faint crackles and shatters echoing from the middle of the universe.

And the cold...it washed over them, threatening to freeze their insides. As if they were trapped inside ice. It clawed at them, dangerous and omnipresent. Their hearts beat wildly in their chests as they curled up wherever they were, trying to block out the terrifying clash until it was over.

And quite suddenly, it was.

Silence.

The dead lack of sound echoed through the middle of the universe, louder than any other noise they had ever heard. The coldness was still there, not as intense as it had been during the blast, but it was there. A faint echo of what had once existed.

"Sonic!"

Tails called out continuously for his sibling as he practically tore his way out of the Blue Typhoon and ran towards the edge of the ship. He could hear his friends yelling behind him, but their voices were faded, distant. All he could hear was the blood pumping in his ears, and his own frantic breathing.

He stopped at the very edge of the Blue Typhoon, azure eyes scanning the black space in front of him. The debris of what had once been Black Doom floated in front of him, blocking his sight. The distressed yellow fox screamed out, calling for his brother, trying to find him...

...there was no answer.

Just when he was about to give up, Tails saw him.

Sonic was there, floating in the middle of the remains of their enemy. He was there, not transparent or made out of crystal or with those dead, unfeeling eyes. He was there in flesh and bone, and looked as if he was about to collapse and bruised until his fur was black. A hand rose towards the fox, as if reaching to him, trying to...

...and then there was a pulse of iridescent light, and Sonic was gone, dissolving into white particles that spread out and dissipated under the effects of phantom winds.


	5. Rebirth

"Tails?"

Unfocused, darkened blue eyes reluctantly tore themselves away from the dark void of space stretching out on the other side of the window and settled upon the Seedrian looming over their owner. Cosmo sported a soft, welcoming smile on her elegant face; there were no shadows dancing in her pale eyes.

It seemed as if the merciless weight that had been crushing her shoulders was gone when the Metarex leader was defeated.

 _She looks better._ Tails thought sullenly, turning back to the window. The vulpine would have, in any other circumstance, been feel happy for his friend's mental freedom, but the kit felt too distraught to care. The problem wasn't Cosmo, nor anyone else. The young fox felt void; lonely beyond measure, the heavy sensation making his ears drop limply against his head.

"...Cosmo." His greeting was silent. There was no cheer in his voice as he acknowledged the presence of the plant girl. "What do you want?"

The female sat down next to him on the bench, her eyes never leaving the grieving child in front of her. For a moment, Cosmo hesitated, before scooting closer to the vulpine and wrapping her arms around him. Tails didn't fight her, leaning into her neck as he continued to look out the window, silently fighting the tears threatening to spill out.

He had to be strong. Crying was for children.

 _(He was a child, a small part of him cried out. He wasn't supposed to deal with this.)_

"I was worried about you...we all are."

"As if." He could easily count off the top of his head those who were probably cheering at the news of his brother's death -and those who would do so if they ever got the news. "...I know of a few who don't."

In a way, he felt deceived. By himself. Betrayed that his brother had died, and he spent weeks searching for clues until, finally, Rouge decided enough was enough, turning the Typhoon around and setting a course for Mobius despite his furious protests.

Cosmo frowned at the dry comment. Her eyes momentarily widened at the realization of who the young scientist was speaking about, before lowering as she tisked softly. "Shadow and Eggman are troubled by our loss...they prefer hiding it, however." This had been the first time Tails had heard her speak about the Ultimate Lifeform without shuttering or flinching in fear.

He glanced at her. She wasn't looking at her hands, fiddling with them nervously, like the usually shy Seedrian did when facing a topic that she disliked. The plant being was sitting straight, not cowering at the name of a being who had tormented her greatly, eyes focused and caring as they gazed upon the fox kit. The black hedgehog's rampage hadn't injured her, but had left a dark, distinctive mark on her psyche when he stormed the Blue Typhoon.

 _Why wasn't she fearful, or at least uncomfortable...?_

"We all grieve in our own, unique way." Her grip on the shivering kit grew protective, and Tails found comfort in the feeling. "That's what makes us who we are."

Was she facing her fears for his sake? The kit frowned, his heart doing a strange flutter. Sonic had done the exact thing long ago, facing his hydrophobia to save him after Eggman had shot the Tornado down while fighting over the ocean. True, he had nearly drowned by doing so, but it didn't mean he disliked the gesture, even though he had to swim back to shore with a terrified, wet hedgehog. The thought of someone else than his brother doing such a kind and selfless thing for him made him strangely happy inside.

"Cosmo...how did you do it?" Tails tried swallowing a sob, but it forced it's way out of his lips anyways. His twin tails twitched, but remained limp behind him. "How did you live after the Metarex killed the Seedrian Colony?"

The said female sighed, her eyes closing. She took a deep breath as the images flashed in front of her eyes. The fire, the screams, the pain, the hopelessness at the realization they would all die, slaughtered like vermin, unable to escape, unable to hide...

Cosmo's hold on the boy tightened, as if he was her only anchor to the world. He was the only one keeping her from looking back into the past, to feel the blood of her brethren splash across her face once again...and to be unable to do anything to stop the attackers.

"I don't know Tails...maybe it's because I wanted revenge..." She felt even worse with the realization that the fox, unlike her, may never known what had happened to his brother. "...but then, I got to know you and your friends..." Cosmo hesitated, her right hand reaching up and patting the young Mobian on the head, running her fingers through the limp yellow fur. She finally pulled away from him before looking down, staring at Tails in the eyes. The Seedrian suddenly looked older and wiser. "I don't know what happens next, but I'll be here. _All_ of us are here to stay. Alright?"

Tails nodded slowly.

"Alright..."

xxxxxxx

Jade eyes slowly fluttered open.

For a moment, he laid there, gasping for breath and cold sweat covering every inch of his fur. His mouth was dry, and his muscles ached like never before, a soreness that seemed to reach the darkest depths of his soul as his body got used to his new environment.

The cobalt hero was exhausted, but despite his tiredness Sonic found himself smiling like a clown.

The small headache he was suffering was just another sign of his victory.

The sleepy speedster continued to watch the bright blue sky above his head, admiring at the familiar streaks of iridescent colors stretching across the atmosphere like makeshift clouds. They painted the sky with their bright colors, writhing and twisting like snakes made of a thousand small stars. Sonic admitted that the phenomenon vaguely resembled the beautiful aurora borealis he'd seen during his travels on both Earth and Mobius, but these were far more vivid and varied to be so.

It was so peaceful. Green orbs fluttered close as he breathed in deeply. The familiar scent invaded his nostrils, coldness that was as comforting as the embrace of his loved ones.

 _I did it._

 _I'm safe._

 _I'm finally here._

Strangely enough, even though he was miles away from home, with every part of his body aching and his head feeling as if it would explode, the young blue hedgehog felt at peace.

"Sonic?"

He opened his eyes and looked at the figure sitting besides him. The being looked like a hedgehog with a soft apricot coat and bright blue eyes devoid of irises and pupils; centers were paler, almost like a pair of pupils. They were looking at the sapphire hedgehog with a mixture of relief and concern, and Sonic could only chuckle as a result.

"Are you alright?" The newcomer's long, dual quills fluttered as a soft breeze traveled the clearing.

Grass as white as snow seemed to dance as the wind ruffled the vegetation, making it squirm under the gentle touch of the light gales. The small plant life glinted and shimmered as they reflected the light from nearby spires. Crystalline fruits and pale leaves jingled from their perches in nearby trees, almost as if they were playing a welcoming song for the two friends.

Sonic smiled peacefully, leaning his head back against the thick grass and closing twin emerald eyes.

"Yeah. I am."

 _Whole. I am finally whole._


	6. Trapping Aether

**Urgh, I saw the Sonic: Boom gameplay on YouTube.**

 **Dear Arceus.** **DEAR ARCEUS.** **Horrible.** **The idea was there; of a four man team, freely switching between the characters, but the rest...y'all suck. Really SEGA, better luck next time. I'll take 06' over this. Ignoring the bestiality, it had a extremely good plot, and interesting stages -although buggy.**

 **And sonic barely runs in the game.**

 **Just URGH.**

* * *

 **Act 2:** **Trapping Aether**

* * *

"This is getting too troublesome."

"P-Please! I'll talk, I swear!"

Shadow merely raised an eyebrow as he loomed over the filthy, cowering mobian. The otter was quivering tremendously as it tried in vain to crawl away, but his broken leg didn't allow much movement.

The iron grip on his throat didn't, either.

"You are starting to annoy me."

The animal whimpered under the ruby glare; despite the looming treat of death, the creature was pinned where he was, reduced to a blubering mess wit the intensity of the ebony warrior's gaze.

Just when the sapien thought the Ultimate Lifeform was going to snap his neck with a flick of his wrist, a feminine voice dripping with amusement echoed from behind them. "Honey, can you leave the poor sod alone? He's useless." A sigh escape the black hedgehog, who dropped the injured outlaw. "Come and help me instead!"

The moment spoiled, Shadow let go of the pleading otter and turned around, glaring at his winged companion. The mobian whom he just spared took this opporutnity to limp away, silently vowing that the next time his gang got their hands on a Chaos Emerald, they would drop it to the first buyer like hot coal. He never wanted to see this demon again.

Maybe with the money he had left he could run off to the farthest Zone and settle there...Holoska was starting to seem like a good idea...

"You're ruining the fun." Shadow refused to admit his tone had a hint of a whine in it. He strolled up to Rouge, making sure to toss his new Chaos Emerald up and down in front of the jewel thief just to irritate her. The bat huffed, annoyed, but turned back to what she was fiddling with.

Behind the white furred mobian stood a towering white, black and red contraptipn known as Omega, another of Eggman's plans to eliminate the so-called heroes of Mobius that decided to flip the metaphorical finger at their creator. The robot had been created less than a year ago, and was send after Tails first. The only problem with the plan was that the fox hadn't been home when the machine arrived. Only Cosmo was.

The vulpine had been scared out of his mind when he returned to his workshop armed to the teeth, fully expecting to be faced with a carnage, only to find a certain Seedrian drinking tea in the living room while making conversation to a massive robot with enough weaponry to take over a small country.

Apparently even a machine couldn't refute Cosmo's way of thinking.

Omega had been angered he had been sent alone to take care of the heroes; it was something Eggman did often enough, carelessly tossing his creations at the mobians in hopes one would eventually get the job done. The newest robot to be sent with the suicide mission had been appalled by what it learned from the female plant, and had sworn revenge on the last Robotnick.

Eggman had been more than a bit peeved with Omega when he found out about the betrayal; the death robot didn't care however. The way the machine trailed after Shadow and Rouge came afterwards. It knew that the fox-boy would category refuse to kill or harm the scientist, so it decided to join the white bat and the ebony hedgehog, who wouldn't bat an eye if it brutally maimed the man, and were in need of a third member.

It was a _perfect_ arrangement.

Shadow peered over his comrade's shoulder, curious despite being annoyed with her. "What do you need?" The bio-engineered male asked gruffly as he noticed the bat was fiddling with a small reinforced coffer.

"According to the documents these guys have, this is a shipment of gems for a nearby jewelry store. This is perfect!" This is predictable. Especially since it was Rouge he was talking about. "Now help me open it!"

"This is stealing."

The bat gave out an indignant puff at his flat voice. "You just tried to choke someone. It's assault at the very least." She exclaimed as she tried, unsuccessfully, to open the case again.

"Point taken. Can't you just leave it here?"

Her gaze was both disappointed and shocked. The black hedgehog wasn't amused. "Shadow! How dare you!" The gasp was melodramatic. "You know I can't walk away from a gem!"

"Whatever. Let's break it open."

"It could injure one of the stones!" At the strange term Shadow stared at the bat as if she had lost her mind. Then, deciding he wanted none of it, he turned around and walked away.

"Rude." Rouge muttered as she turned to her remaining companion, a threatening tower of metal and glowing eyes. "Come on 'mega, we have treasure to gather!"

An unfazed Omega stared at her, then back at the retreating Shadow, before going after the ebony warrior. Rouge deflated as both of her teammates left her behind. "Come on!" She looked away from the hedgehog and the robot, and focused on getting the coffer open. "You guys are bad friends, leaving a lady alone in a bandit den!"

The death machine known as Omega stopped walking, and slowly, very slowly, turned it's head a full three hundred and sixty degrees to stare at Rouge.

Moments later, the white bat was happily swimming in a lake of gleaming priceless jewels while a disgruntled robot struggled to tear the twisted remains of the coffer's door from its claws.

xxxxxxxxx

A soft breeze travelled the distant, unknown land. The wind rustled the branches of the crystalline trees that made up the forest covering the valley below, making the crystal spires dotting the landscape chime like the laughter of young children, tugging at the soft leaves and playfully nipping the tip of the white grass that covered the hill. The force of nature rippled through the flora and making blue quills flutter in front of emerald orbs.

With a relaxed smile, the owner of the relaxed quills raised a hand covered in a white glove and pulled the limp appendages out of his eyes.

From this point, Sonic could see the great blue sea that stretched almost infinitively up west, churning endless wave after wave of white foam. Closer to his position, he saw a lone structure made out of a colorful orange material standing out in a large clearing. Of a sleek design, with a sharp, triangular roof, lozenge-shaped windows -capable of resisting even the strongest blows- and a adjustable door at the base that could morph and shift form at the owner's wish, it brought even more color to an already vibrant world.

The skies of this amazing place had no sun, nor moon or stars, and the massive entities were replaced by colorful ribbons of light that travelled the sky like giant streaks of paint, of many colors and shades on a deep blue canvas.

The Aether was simply a beauty, a paradise, a world hidden inside the Life Plates, only he and a specific amount of individuals could reach. The hand was that brushed the quills away lowered itself against his chest, where his heart was, as the Blue Blur closed his eyes.

 _There._

Between the comforting, soft thump thump of his beating heart, he could feel the humming and churning of the powerful, now active energy he contained within him. Sonic smiled. It truly felt good to feel it again. It was, to him, a second heart. One which he had forgotten existed.

Not until two years ago, anyways.

He wondered what happened to his friends... _bah_ , they were alright. From what he remembered, the time in this dimension flowed faster than even Earth, the human world. For them, the two years could be at worse a couple of months.

 _Vi and I have plenty of time to find a way out of here that doesn't have a big probability of landing me inside a black hole._ A way back to his home. It had been something Sonic and his companion had been researching during the last two years.

At first, they had thought that he could get back to Mobius by latching onto Vicini and using the other's powerful teleportation ability. They were ready to do it, that is until they realized they had forgotten one crucial detail. To teleport, the Elemental Spirit needed to know the exact location, and had to have been there before.

Vicini had never been on Mobius, thus, he was unable to warp there. It was fine though. Sonic could simply let the other, through the telepathic bond they shared, look into his memories and use the knowledge to warp there.

But even when they did that, Vicini still couldn't teleport when Sonic was coming along with the ride. It was as if the Ether didn't want to let go of him.

Worst bummer ever.

Sonic played dead on his bed the next three days after that revelation. He would have gone for much longer if Vicini hadn't threatened him with a bucket of water.

The azure hero sighed, pulling himself up on his feet. He stretched his arms and legs, warming them up for the run that was sure to come. Taking in the serene picture unfolding in front of him for a last time, the young, blue-furred humanoid turned around to leave the hill.

 _I should get going. Vi will get angry if I'm not back at his tower soon. Knowing the idiot, he'll think metalhead finally got me._

He smirked, emerald eyes sparkling with life and wishful determination.

 _Like a rust bucket like him can catch me._

xxxxxxx

In a far away planet -and in a far worse mood- a young man was walking back from school. His head lowered, posture slumping, the teenager had the appearance of someone who had mentally kicked the bucket. His name was Chris Thorndyke, son of the CEO of Thorndyke Industries, and he was missing his best friend terribly. It wasn't Helen, Danny or Francine. It was rather Sonic, the brave speedster the young teenager was often awed by.

Sonic, who was now gone from existence.

Gone. That was the only way he could sum up what had happened, due to the fact that no one did know what actually happened. Tails and Eggman, the two local geniuses, had spend several days scanning the exact location where the sapphire hedgehog had, for a lack of a better word, disintegrated. Unfortunately, they had found nothing; not even a trace of the energy that had helped the young hero beat the Metarex leader, or the dust-like particles Sonic had turned into. It was as if he had simply vanished.

The fox had been more than distraught and locked himself in his room, not even answering to their calls. Overall, it hadn't been a happy group that returned to Mobius.

When Eggman made the machine that brought him back to his own world, Chris had fought to stay, until a certain Seedrian had sat down and talked to him. She hadn't been around Sonic as much as the rest of the team, so her head was cooler than the grieving Mobians. She had been able to come through to him. He had needed to come back. At the end he did, only after Cosmo promised to take care of his friends for him.

And now here he was, rotting away in misery.

He should have done something. He could have helped searching for clues about Sonic's possible survival. He should have been more helpful. He didn't master numerous scientific fields all these years for nothing.

 _Who am I kidding? Not even Eggman found something..._

That only made him feel even lower than dirt. To be worse brain-wise and technological-wise than the last Robotnick was truly a thing of nightmares.

xxxxxxxx

A thunderous explosion racked the white grassland as a blue blur zipped through the crystal formations dotting the landscape. Fluffy pale grass was burned to crisps as the hedgehog's opponent, unrelenting in his quest to destroy the sapphire hero, pursued his target without showing any sign of stopping.

"Hey emo-robot, stop playing with those toys before someone gets hurt!

Dark Oak's only reply was an enraged, metallic screeching that made his ears ring.

Why did the Holder State teleport the Metarex leader here of all places?! Didn't it realize I could be warped here if my Ether energy was too depleted? This was one of the many mysteries he would never understand, the Blue Blur grumbled as he shifted directions to avoid getting blown to smithereens by the creature's missiles.

He came back on track seconds later, not wanting to get lost, as well as staying not to far away from Dark Oak to annoy his pursuer -and to spice things up, since avoiding death by missiles was getting too boring for him. It had truly become a daily routine. Sonic whirled around, running backwards as he pulled his tongue at the darkly colored robot.

Only to gulp as the Metarex pulled out a familiar long, curved sword from its waist holder and threw it like a boomerang at the fleeting hedgehog.

 _Aw hell._

Leaping into the air, the sapphire speedster curled into a ball and charged toward the alien leader, avoiding the sword with ease that told of how many times he had to do it. His spindash connected with Dark Oak's chest, making the robot stumble back. The creature swung its clawed hands around as it was pushed back, managing cut its smaller opponent on the shoulder.

Sonic gritted his teeth and turned around, running away from the Metarex and toward the only safe stop in the Ether. His injury was severe and it was dripping a lot of blood, but it had been worth it. This gave him enough time to resume his run, this time with a descent head-start from the murderous creature.

Already, his companion's house came to view. A tall, sleek tower that looked as if it had been sculpted out of a rather massive orange crystal block stood in at the end of the large plain. Basically for anyone who hadn't been stuck for what seemed like two years in the Ether, it was a giant bunk house that could resist any assault, especially from the enraged Metarex leader. It had been tested.

Numerous times.

The only problem? The only entry was two feet wide.

Not like that was something difficult to overcome for someone like Sonic. Flipping the finger to physic was kind of a everyday thing for him.

Already a meaningless thirty feet from the structure, the azure hedgehog concentrated on Vicini's Core, a heart-like organ that gave life to a Elemental Spirit, and, in this case, had been nestled happily inside him, allowing the young hero access to abilities unique to the orange elemental. Leaping in the air, the exhausted blue hedgehog curled up and called out at the Core.

His body lost its texture; fur, quills, eyes and clothes all turning into a ethereal iridescent substance. Sonic's form transformed drastically, slimming down to a fourth of his original size: two bone appendages grew out of a smaller, rounder head, feathers sprouting from his back, traveling down to the hips of his imp-like form to create two small wings, and his arms became smaller, with clawed hands as his legs reformed into ones not unlike a feral bunny's.

To finish the change, his new fur and feathers turned a bright peach, and the V shaped horns on top of his head and the tip of his feathers became a mixture between orange and red. His eyes snapped open; a endless, pale blue hue that glowed with a internal fire.

His wings spread wide; he was suddenly thrown forward by his new flight ability. Turning around, Sonic gave the Metarex a toothy grin as the horns on his head began to glow.

"Hope you like the new trick, trashcan!"

His horns were engulfed by orange flames, and Sonic dove.

He felt his head bash against the monstrous alien's chest with a solid clang. Dark Oak shrieked in agony, wildly swinging his sword, stumbling back as his chest armor sagged and gave off smoke. Sonic tried to take advantage of the opening, but had to fly back to evade the blade that swung towards his midsection.

The sword was sent his way again, and Sonic flew to the right.

Directly into Dark Oak's clawed hand.

Ops.

The Metarex's laughed hoarsely, the blow Sonic had delivered upon his chest area having damaged his true body greatly, and squeezed the small peach body tightly. Sonic screamed in pain, the sensation of being crushed while the alien's claws sunk into his chest being too much for him to bear in silence.

The Blue Blur felt Dark Oak let go of him with a satisfied chuckle, and felt his body shift back to its true form moments before his back hit the pale grass. The speedster groaned, keeping his eyes closed and flipping himself on his side, his left hand holding him up while his right traveled up to his chest, feeling the two gashes left by the mad alien's claws. Sonic opened his eyes and looked down, cringing at the dangerous amount of blood flowing from between his fingers.

 _Should have kept flying towards the tower..._

He was starting to regret taunting the Metarex.

"Time to die, rodent!"

Sonic's instincts saved him this time, as his body rolled to the left, avoiding the blade from sinking into his unprotected body. Now on his back, the speedster looked up, staring defiantly at his attacker. Dark Oak glared back, his sword rising once more into the air, aiming at the young male's head.

But before the creature could end the azure hero he was violently thrown aside by a blast of heat, crashing into a crystal spire. The brunt of the attack send his precious sword flying away, disappearing into the sea of white vegetation. Sonic looked at the source of the fireball, surprised by the close save, only to see the imp-like creature he had transformed into moments ago floating in mid-air, cheeks red from rage.

"Vicini!"

The creature glanced at him and glared murderously, making the speedster flinch.

 _He's so going to kill me._

Dark Oak roared, annoyed by the interruption, was quick to try and stab the winged beast with his claws, but it avoided the attack with ease. The Metarex retrieved his blade, waving it menacingly towards the new arrival, taunting the blue hedgehog's savior. The said being opened his mouth and showered the last Metarex in apricot fire.

The mechanical warrior howled in pain, stumbling back and leaning against the crystalline formation jutting out of the charred white grass, the metal layer that hid the deformed life form hot red from the flames.

While the Metarex writhed in pain, the newcomer fluttered down at the fallen blue speedster's side; the creature's form began to glow brightly, stretching out in the same manner Sonic has transformed.

"You are one big idiot, you know that?"

"Can't say I'm not guilty, so yeah...but for the record, Oak's the one chasing me." Sonic quipped back as he held his chest, wincing at the pain that came each tim he moved. Vicini glared at his companion's mumbled comment, not impressed in the least.

"Who turned the chase into a fight, then?"

"He did." Sonic smiled up at his friend, ignoring the gaping wound on his chest, bleeding like a small river and staining the grass around him a deep carmine.

The Element Spirit stared at the grinning hero incredulously. "...do you realize my tower has windows?" Vicini retorted dryly, his pupiless eyes lowering from the blue hedgehog's face to his chest, noticing the wound.

"Yup." The blue hedgehog tried to laugh, but ended up coughing blood. "...ow..."

Vicini made a small grunt, kneeling down to his charge's side. "We need to get you fixed." Before the orange hedgehog could continue, his blue ally suddenly threw himself at him, throwing him and himself out of the way of a devastating sword blow. Dark Oak roared at his attack's failure, diving into the duo with a clawed hand aiming towards the blue hedgehog's head.

Vicini snarled, grabbing Sonic around the waist, and in a vibrant flash of apricot light, the two warriors were a few feet behind the angered Metarex. The Element Spirit rose to his feet, pulling Sonic back behind him despite the annoyed yelp that escaped the injured blue hedgehog's throat.

 _He's not in fighting condition._ Vicini winced, a hand flying down to his chest. Due to the bond the two possessed, caused by the orange hedgehog being the first absorbed by the young hero -thus giving him a 'mentor status'- he could feel the pain the other felt, almost as an echo. _He's losing to much blood. No matter how tough he says he is, Sonic is going to pass out soon enough. Even he can't ignore this kind of injury._ The orange pelted being let go of the hedgehog that tried to walk in front of him, only to be pushed back with an annoyed glance as Vicini placed himself between the Metarex and the Blue Blur. _Worst case scenario, it will come out, and I'll have to run for the hills._

Sonic winced behind Vicini, stumbling after the other, a hand flying up to his midriff, causing his companion to glance at him in worry. The Metarex took the opening and dove in for the kill, sword swinging, once again ignoring a enraged Vicini who showered the robot in burning hot apricot flames. He tried to smack the blue-eyed male away, but he wasn't prepared for the creature to ball a hand into a fist, let fire gather around it, and meet his charge head on.

The fist of condensed heat exploded outwards upon contact with the mechanical being's chest, sending both opponents reading back. The grass bend under the force of the blast, charring and withering under the fiery heat. Just like Dark Oak Vicini was send sprawling back, unable to stay balanced; his anger had made the flames stronger than expected, leaving him on his back, disoriented.

As well as leaving the injured Sonic open for attack.

Dark Oak's body was mostly mechanical; while his armor was charred, his servos were in perfect condition, so he didn't waste time getting to his feet and leaping over the dazed Element Spirit. The azure hero's bright green eyes widened, a silent oh shit in his expression; he knew the blow was coming, and as injured and weary his body was, he was too slow to dodge it.

Being too close to the hedgehog to move his sword with ease, Dark Oak knocked the struggling Vicini away with a kick before using his swordless hand to punch Sonic across the chest, claws digging into the soft flesh, sending the azure hedgehog flying back headfirst into a crystal spire.

The sickening crack that signaled the connection between the head of the speedster and the hard minerals was deafening. The hero slid down the formation, revealing a small crater on the crystal as well as a thin trail of blood. Emerald eyes fluttered, trying to stay open as the azure laid there, dazed and in pain.

The rising Vicini shouted out in pain, one hand flying up to his head as he stumbled, his expression both pained and worried. The blue speedster barely acknowledged the scream, his eyelids still blinking repeatedly as his mind groggily tried to swim back to the world of living.

Dark Oak roared at the crumbled figure and lurched forward, sword brandished like a spear, ignoring the orange flames charring his back, courtesy of Vicini. It didn't stop the former leader; he finally had one of the two annoyances he had been stuck with for the last two years stunned. He was going for the kill.

"Of all the times...!" The orange furred being cursed, running after the charging metal behemoth fruitlessly, for he knew he would be too late to save his friend. The said hedgehog blinked dazedly, his mind sluggish from the blow his head had received barely grasping his attacker rushing towards him, and the gleaming blade pointed towards his chest.

"Sonic!"

Dark Oak's frenzied attack was stopped by a gloved hand grabbing his sword by the blade.

Sonic made no move to get up; he was still laying against the crystal formation, a thin trail of blood marring the side of his head. The hero's chest was bleeding heavily, staining the fawn and sapphire pelt a deep, scarlet red. Yet with his eyes closed, his form slumped against the spire, his arm was raised, as if it had done so of its own accord, flipping the bird to both its owner's condition and the laws of physics, clenching the blade with enough strength to not only stop its owner's attacker in mid run, but give small cracks on the edges of the blade around the fawn appendage.

Slowly, but gradually, the said limb turned a strange, transparent composition Vicini was familiar enough with; starting at the balled up hand, climbing up at the arm, shoulder, and suddenly spurned by a unknown force, quickly spread throughout the rest of the Blue Blur's body like a plague, covering his clothes and seemingly absorbing them into itself. The chest area glowed, a soft light that consisted of a myriad of colors. The hedgehog's translucent form shimmered a pale ghostly white, especially around the edges, and the ears and quills of the injured warrior lengthened slightly, sharpening at the ends.

Dark Oak growled, trying to stand tall against his transformed foe despite the fact his almost indestructible blade known to have brought beings such as Super Sonic down had been damaged by the hero. The atmosphere did not seem to help the former leader. The very air had gone a deep, bone chilling cold, recking of danger and imminent death.

Vicini stilled, stopping his attempt to get between the sword wielder and his friend, in exchange of stepping back slowly, cautiously. There was no need for him to save his dunderhead of a charge. What the boy hosted would do the job for him.

Blue eyelids snapped open, the familiar green shade of the hero's eyes replaced by a cold iridescent.

Dark Oak suddenly found himself flying halfway across the clearing.

* * *

 **Spot the Naruto reference!**

 **The first time I did this the Team Dark part wasn't there before. I was going to post the chapter without it, but then I decided to add it so there could be a bit of a backstory for Omega. I also really wanted to use Rouge's lines and my mind couldn't keep it in and was getting a meltdown, so I kind of needed to get it out XD**

 **I love the way Rouge just flat out manipulates Omega into doing what she wants. Reminds me of my demon of a sister. Could give Shadow a run for his money, that's for sure.**

 **NOTE: Vicini is a secondary character. Yes, he will appear often, but it will lessen with time. I will make sure he is the best OC evar. He will be realistic and he won't just save the day out of nowhere, or have lots of secrets and shit. I've seen way too many sonic OC just pop out from fucking nowhere, and I really don't want this to happen.**

 **Unfortunately in most of my other stories I always manage to kill off the OCs in the worst way possible (cough cough Perfection) so I don't have that much of a good base when it comes down to it.**

 **It could be worse though. First version of this story was crap. He was crap back then. Crap was better than Vicini back then.**


	7. Return To The Wrong Planet

**I just learned Sonic Boom is getting another installment called Fire and Ice.**

 **Just no.**

 **No.**

 **Simply no.**

 ***dies***

* * *

The robotized plant form roared out in surprise as he flailed in midair, barely righting himself into a upright position and activating his boosters to prevent himself from been dragged farther away by the force of the throw.

"How _dare_ you-" Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the small foot slamming down the top of his skull, the powerful blow ringing throughout his metal body, breaking more than one delicate piece of technology that made up the armor that covered his true, vegetal form.

The once leader of the Metarex army hit the ground like a falling meteor, tearing the earth and blowing chunks of grass away. The surrounding trees leaned away from the battlefield from the force of the attack as the mighty, howling winds that followed tore through them.

His body too damaged to move properly, Dark Oak could only look up helplessly as the source of his pain gracefully floated down, tail waving lazily behind him, unblinking multicolored eyes staring down at him with not a ounce of emotion.

The hero's transparent fingers grew in size, flattening and turning into sharp blades that lightly pierced the Metarex's skull. The limbs brought the fallen warrior up at the transformed hedgehog's eye level...

...who, much like his opponent had done, dove in for the kill.

A almighty kick to the left side, denting the metal, a blow so strong that it injured the former overlord's true body.

A hand grasped the left arm of the suit, tearing if off with ease before throwing it away like a discarded toy.

A punch that stabbed through the ribcage of the Metarex, the concentrated force of the blow piercing the former leader through and through.

And, to finish it all off, the transformed hedgehog's hands grew into two monstrous blades that promptly severed Dark Oak's legs and midriff, where his real body resided, into three separate halves. The remains of the sword-wielding warrior fell down, hitting the bottom of the crater it had left mere moments ago.

The Metarex that had been harassing Sonic and Vicini for the past two years had been dealt within moments. The later of the two hedgehogs was standing a few feet away from the house-sized crater, peering at the scene from behind a tree that had been dug up by the winds caused by the brief, one-sided fight.

The Elemental Spirit watched with caution as the transformed blue hero lowered himself at the edge of the crater, casting a pale blue shadow on the soft white grass. The vegetation seemed to grow upon contact, crawling around the transparent feet, almost as if it was greeting the being.

The crystalline speedster stared down at the downed Metarex unblinkingly, observing and evaluating the dull, slick green fluid pouring out from the former leader's true form. The corpse was barely seen through the layers of cable and metal engulfing it, as Vicini stepped back, trying to not gag at the grisly sight and the smell of rotting tomatoes that escaped the dead Metarex.

. _crack_.

The apricot being accidentally stepped on one of the tree's branch.

Iridescent eyes locked onto the Element Spirit's hiding spot, finders stretching out into wide, curved shapes. Iridescent energy gathered at chest level, between two enlarged hands, quickly forming a tight, solid ball of condescended power. It crackled and churned with untold energy, slowly condensing into the size of a eye. Most of all it was heavy; the ground seemly caving in as it shrunk, but the creator of the attack not losing his balance.

Vicini who could only watch, his eyes wide and his ears perked up, not unlike a deer who was about to be hit by a car.

The explosion following blew even the Holder State away, sending it rolling into the grass, kicking up bits of dirt and crystal, remains of the small spires that had been smashed by the blast. Trees were uprooted by the winds generated by the blast, and animals miles around fled in fear at the thunderous explosion.

With the winds of the explosion tearing away everything around it, the Holder State prevented itself from being thrown farther away as well by sinking its transformed, elongated fingers into the ground. The strange eyes were glued to the epicenter of the blast,

"Damn...if I hadn't teleported a few feet back, I would have been torn to pieces by that Orb..."

The crystalline stared blankly at the shivering Vicini, who was bruised, choking his lungs out from the residual dust and dirt trapped in his throat, cuts running down his entire body as if he had gone through a meat grinder, but alive. The two beings watched each other in silent examination, the orange male occasionally coughing despite his attempts to stay quiet, so he wouldn't tempt the other to attack him.

It was the first time he had seen this form up close, and despite being fascinated by the transformation, Vicini knew that not many survived a encounter with the creature. It put the being on guard, ready to teleport away to safety at the smallest twitch of the crystalline figure.

But the Holder State did not regal the other with a fight. Rather, it very slowly sunk into the ground as if the later had been liquid, leaving a open mouthed, wide-eyed Element Spirit behind.

xxxxxxxx

Some time later, a certain young man exited his house. Chris had thrown on his back a pair of jeans, combat boots -those things were comfortable as hell- a white shirt and a grey hoodie to protect himself against the summer breeze.

His mother had to fly to Chicago for a new movie; his father had a business trip he couldn't reschedule. That left the young man alone. Well, almost. The house contained his grandfather Chuck, the lovable maid known as Ella and the rigid butler named Tenaka.

Now that he had returned to Earth, had gone back to the usual routine, boring days without mobians or evil scientists running around trying take over the world. Chris's life was normal again, something the young man didn't want at all. He loved the rush of adventure, the near death experiences, and helping his friends save the world...

Chris cringed. He couldn't think about it. It was too painful. The human knew he needed to get over it, as much as it pained him to say it.

"Chris!" His eyes turned to the right to his grandfather's concerned gaze. The young man realized he had been standing at the entrance of the mansion, staring emptily at the pavement. Chuck laid a hand on his shoulder, looking down at his grandson with sad eyes. The old scientist sighed. "You should get going; you have class today." Chris felt himself nod, but it was a empty gesture, a answer his body instinctively gave, but not his mind. His relative took what he got with a small, insecure grin. "Stay safe, alright?" Chris could only offer a small nod as he walked forward, heading for the entrance.

That was when the ground in front of him exploded.

The blast send him onto his back, slamming the back of his head against the hard cement pavement and making him see stars. Chris was barely aware of his grandfather's cry of surprise, or the historical yells that made Ella's presence known.

 _What...the hell happened?_

The young scientist got up on his behind, wincing as his ears run with the force of the explosion. Holding his sensitive and bruised head with one hand, Chris looked up and stared at the cause of his injury; it was clear there was a hole on the ground, yet smoke kept flowing out, masking the extent of the damage done to the pavement and what had caused it. Chris sniffed the air, his face scrunching up when the sulfuric smell reached his nostrils. Coughing into his free hand, the teenager rose to his feet.

A figure wobbled inside the smoke-filled crater, the small stature making Chirs frown. Who was it? A child? Probable...yet the height was a bit smaller than his own when he was younger, similar to...a mobian...

Christopher Thorndyke could literally hear his mind go blank. There was a chance...no matter how small it was...it was then that the being emerged from the smoke, or rather, stumbled his way out, and Chris could recognize the sharp, curved down quills anywhere.

He tripped forwards, barely catching himself in time, his eyes rived on the figure, noticing with dread that there was blood dripping down the azure fur. Sonic looked as if he had been put through the ringer, eyes dead to the world, seeing through him as if he wasn't even there, his snout and arms pale from blood lost. The young human's walk accelerated as he noticed the hero was quivering, swaying from side to side, ready to collapse.

Chris barely raised his arms in time to have the little hedgehog fall into them, and not the hard, cracked pavement.

"Sonic...!" A moment of shock passed over him before the medical training he was taught before the Metarex fiasco took over. Trying his best to not jostle the sapphire hedgehog, Chris slowly lowered the limp form on the ground. If was hard to see where the wound -or in this case, wounds- were, but the young man quickly tore his hoodie off him and pressed it tightly against the two gashes that decorated Sonic's torso.

The said blue hedgehog had a almost peaceful expression on his face, the only clue he was alive was the gasping breaths he was taking in from his mouth. That unnerved Chris greatly, who couldn't stand to see the death-like demeanor.

Luckily he wasn't alone. Loud footsteps echoed from behind Chris as his grandfather arrived to his side. Chris glanced at his relative. Chuck wore one of the gravest expressions he had ever seen on his face, and with due reason.

"We have to get him medical attention. The quicker, the better." The man lightly pulled the blood soaked hoodie from Sonic's chest, only to wince at the wounds that parted the fawn and blue fur. "From the looks of things, he's going to need expert care." Chuck turned his head around and yelled at Ella, who was still staring in shock at the bleeding form the two Thorndykes were kneeling over.

"Ella! Get the car going!"

The Hispanic woman blinked, the harsh tone of her employer brought her attention back to the current situation.

"Right!"

xxxxxxxxxx

By now Sonic was bleeding all over the backseat of the car, even with the shredded hoodie wrapped tightly around his torso. Chris winced at the sight, and pressed the material further against the wounds.

"I don't think he's going to last long! How much farther is the hospital?!"

Chuck gulped next to his grandson, carefully holding the bleeding hero as the car made a sharp turn. With Ella too busy driving, it was Tenaka who answered with an even voice. "It's four blocks away. Just a minute or two and we'll be there!"

The expensive car barreled through the neighborhood like a speeding bullet, drawing many shouts, yells and honks form both the pedestrians and the drivers that made the unfortunate decision of stepping outside today. Chris, Chuck and Tanaka silently agreed that when this was all over, they would remember to never let a worked up Ella drive...

...that is, if they lived through this.

Of course, it was known fact that driving too fast in Station Square would equal to having a obnoxious blond man named Sam Speed chasing you. And getting a very heavy speeding ticket, of course. The race car's high pitched siren echoed loudly throughout the block, causing people to wince and pull their hands over their ears.

While usually the owner of the terrifyingly fast police car was quick to slap a ticked into his miserable victim's awaiting hands, Sam Speed noticed with a raised eyebrow that his newest law breaker was a very familiar purple car.

Has Chris gotten hurt again? That would be the only reasonable explanation, since three years ago, Ella had barreled through the city with the car while heading towards the hospital when Christopher had broken his left arm in a building mishap...pulling up next to the speeding purple car, Ella's notorious overprotectiveness leaked over to the policemen when he noticed Chuck and Chris in the backseats with a dark liquid staining their shirts and arms.

"Ella!" The Hispanic woman barely glanced at the other driver, but Sam took it as a sign she heard him. "Slow down! I'm going to clear the way!" Sam Speed's car surged forward, passing the bulkier, more elegant vehicle as it blared its siren for all to hear.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Is that...?!" For once, Sam was left gapping as he watched his younger relative rush out of a car, a small bundle of blue fur pathetically shivering in his arms. By now a great number of curious onlookers had gathered, whispering loudly as they watched the two Thorndykes, butler and the maid rush out of the expensive car.

"No time!" Chris ignored his uncle, as his grandfather furiously parted the way through the curious crowd, allowing the teenager and his charge quick access to the medical facility.

Chuck opened the hospital's so hard they banged against the wall. That caught the attention of everyone inside for a few moments, for Chris ran in after the older man, drawing stares and gaps at the sight of the blood covering him, and the limp body in his arms.

"What's the hell are you waiting for?!" Chris roared angrily at the medics he saw in the room, who at the angered, desperate cry suddenly were sent into a frenzy. "Get to it, you little shits! Use that brain of yours for something!" At that most patients reeled back at the insult, and several doctors flinched.

"Can anyone get me some morphine!?"

"I need space to evaluate the wounds!"

"No time! Get a surgery room ready!"

Orders were barked and a bed with wheels was brought. A tall man carefully took the limp and unresponsive Sonic from Chris' blood soaked arms and laid him on the bed, while a distressed Chuck told a nearby doctor all he knew about the blue hedgehog's biology.

Despite the numerous problems and unknowns, the medical team was able to get the mobian was prepared for surgery in a matter of minutes.

xxxxxxxx

The medical team had a lot of experience, but even then it didn't help much when they were faced with a tiny blue hedgehog. Thankfully, their knowledge in the human body wasn't a complete waste, for the gashes had merely perforated the skin, muscles and badly scraped the bones of his thorax, bruising his internal organs. If the blows had broken through the bones, they would have been lost and unable to help the Blue Blur.

Thankfully, that did not happen, and a doctor covered with tiny speckles of blood came out of the surgery room wearing a calm expression on his face. The waiting room was packed, filled with different kinds of people like curious onlookers and a few reporters that very quick to be chased out by the overworked, irate nurses. Other inhabitants included a pacing Sam Speed, a anxious Ella and Tenaka, as well Chuck and Chris, who was staring at the ceiling as if it held all of life's meaning.

Chris was the first to hound the doctor, immediately rushing in front of the man and demanding answers. "Don't worry kid. He'll be fine." The doctor looked down at the teenager and smiled. At that the Thorndyke let out a happy whoop, and most of the adults in the room sagged, relieved.

xxxxxxxx

A certain teenager poked his head into the room, his soft blue eyes immediately noticing the prone form of one of his best friends laying limply on the bed. Since the furniture was intended for humans, it made the hedgehog look like a tiny mummy with all the bandages covering him. The sight saddened Chris greatly, who was not used to see the supposedly invincible hero so vulnerable.

Then again, it happened before...It did, but not often. He could count the times Sonic needed to be saved or taken care of in one hand. When the giant mecha powered by the seven emeralds lost control, when the Metarex first made themselves known, when Sonic used the Blue Typhoon's cannon to fire himself at the barrier a fleet of Metarex ships made, and worse of all, when the leader of the Metarex, Dark Oak, was defeated.

Chris smiled softly, walking into the room and bringing a plastic chair near the bed as quietly as he could. As much as the human wanted his friend to wake up, he knew it would not help his recovery. He's just like any other person on this planet. He bleeds, he cries, he can die like everyone else...The young teenager chuckled, reaching out to grasp one of the Blue Blur's peach hands into his own.

In a way, this makes him even more determined at getting stronger. If Sonic could do it, why couldn't he? He would become strong. Chris wanted that so much. He wanted to do it, so the sacrifice Sonic made to get rid of the Metarex leader never happened again. So none of his friends and relatives ever suffered.

"Is he asleep?" Chris turned at the door, at the unruly mop of blond hair that stood there, cleverly named Sam Speed -though he was more than sure the man changed his name. He remembered the rant his mother let out upon hearing about it. Not a happy memory.

"More like knocked out, but yeah." Sonic's left ear twitched, but other than that, he made no other movement besides the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

"The little guy's gonna be alright." Sam plopped into the remaining chair while giving his fellow blond a reassuring smirk. "He's been through worse than this." He laid a hand on the Blue Blur's forehead and petted the soft fur. "That I'm sure." The man looked at the younger human, a smile decorating his face. "He's tough, he's gonna wake up any moment now, right?" Chris chuckled at it, torn between laughing and scolding his uncle for talking so loudly. It would be a miracle if Sonic didn't wake up from the noise, but the hedgehog was known to be a heavy sleeper, so...

"Gnh..." Both Christopher and Sam blinked at the same time, before glancing down at the blue hedgehog shifting restlessly beneath the covers. "...fucking hurts..." The bandages must be rubbing against his stitches, damaging the sensitive new skin, and Chris had his fair share of injuries to know that it was annoying and sleeping in this condition was a pain.

"He's going to open his stitches if this keeps up." The two men carefully rearranged the azure speedster's new sleeping position. They were careful with the hero's head, wary of the razor sharp quills that could tear through metal, but it wasn't needed. The fearsome appendages remained soft and spongy, as if they knew those who were moving their owner around were allies.

Unfortunately, their attempt to make the mobian more comfortable roused the azure warrior further.

The emerald orbs blinked sleepily. "Wha...?" Chris chuckled at the wavering undertone, something Sonic would normally not do if he was completely awake. Reaching out and rubbing the injured hero's triangular ear, the teenager tried to lure the small hedgehog back to the land of sleep.

Unsuccessfully.

"Stap it." Chris rolled his eyes at the low groan. It seemed as if when Sonic was awake, he was up for a while. The blond smiled as Sonic hazily looked around, the hedgehog's mind slowly, sluggishly swimming back to the world of the living. The emerald eyes settled on him and the Blue Blur smiled crookedly. "Hi Chris."

"Hello Sonic. Nice to see you're awake."

"...how come there are two of you?"

 _One panic attack from Chris, a hour-long examination and Sam leaving to chase after a busty nurse later..._

Once the doctors checked and assured that no, Sonic did not have severe brain damage, but merely a concussion that had yet to fully heal, Chris finally let himself breathe.

"You ran around like Ella did when I made a muddy mess on the floor." The blond human glared at the blue hedgehog, who grinned right back despite the bandages around his head and chest shifting at the small movement. "What? It's true. You both have that wrinkly face when you get mad or worried."

Chris tried to fight the smile that was threatening to worm its way into his lips, but the witty banter Sonic gave was truly refreshing. It soothed his nerves. It was something he was familiar with, and it eased the young man. "Must have taken that from her when I was young." He muttered. The azure hedgehog hummed appreciably, leaning back into his pillow. "Sonic?" The Blue Blur looked over at the blond teenager.

"Yes?"

Chris opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, hesitating. His friend watched the action with interest. One of the triangular blue ears flickered, as if their owner apprehensively waiting for the blond human to continue.

"What happened?"

Even if he knew this conversation would eventually see the light of day, the injured Blue Blur sighed, throwing his head back into the pillow as if he wanted the furniture to spare him from this discussion and swallow him whole.

"You remember when I burst into sprinkle dust?"

Chris nodded, waiting for the answer to the fiasco that had made him leave his group of mobian friends while they needed him.

"I turned into sprinkle dust." The loud bonk Chris' head made against the edge of the bed made brought forth a small, amused giggle from the azure patient.

"Really?!"

Sonic hummed from the back of his throat, the smile fading lightly from his lips. "I actually teleported."

His friend's eyes narrowed, Chris' mind going back to the hours after the blue hedgehog had vanished, when Tails had unsuccessfully tried to find anything remaining of the quilled hero.

"That...makes sense. Tails couldn't find anything...left of you." The blond cleared his throat awkwardly. "Where did you end up?"

"I can't really tell you much about it..." The hedgehog leaned back on his pillow thoughtfully. "I can say I ended up in a realm few have access to, as large as yours yet...compressed." Chris looked at him oddly, and Sonic laughed lightly, wincing as his wounds cried out in protest. Raising his hands as a sign of defeat, the young azure chuckled. "You can't really understand it unless you have all the pieces of the puzzle."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll know soon."

The little bastard had the gall to wink at him.

 _Shouldn't expect anything else from Sonic the Hedgehog._

xxxxxxx

"Come on Sonic, please?"

The blue hedgehog cracked one emerald eye open and mock glared at him.

"Nope." Exasperated, Chris slammed his head against the bed with a loud thump.

During the following hours he had tried everything to get more answers from the blue hedgehog, but Sonic was very tight lipped and to his annoyance, amused by his endless barrage of questions. The worst part is that is that the sapphire mobian had somehow managed to answer every single one without giving more information.

To busy raking his head for ways to make the azure hedgehog answer, he didn't notice the emerald orb suddenly glow a unearthly iridescent color.

xxxxxxxx

"This sucks."

"You're the idiot who decided it was a good idea to try and jump out the window."

Sonic whined childishly. "Try being stuck in a bed for a entire day." Chris merely gazed at the hedgehog's form, taking in the dropping ears, the hazy eyes and the lowered quills. After the disastrous escape attempt, the doctors had to put him through surgery again and pump him full of sedatives to keep him from trying that stunt again.

Chris estimated that the injured hero would try to escape again in a day.

"Besides, I didn't try jumping out the window, I succeeded."

"You ended up cracking several of your ribs against the pavement."

"...at first."


	8. Dangerous Encounter

**I caught a Cellar Spider running around my room the other day. I put her in a pen and everything. Feed her a drop of marmalade every day.**

 **She drowned in it. Then my dog ate her.**

 **I need better pets.**

* * *

Chris was apparently a seer, because more or less 25 hours after his escape attempt, Sonic tried to sneak away by running pass the guards and in the cameras' blindspots. He did well enough...

...until he smacked his head against a empty metal bed when turning around a corner. At the speed of a car. The doctors weren't pleased. Exasperated was the best word to describe it.

He ended up aggravating his concussion.

The rest of the day, the Blue Blur slept under the strength of a powerful sedative.

xxxxxxxx

It was five days since Sonic had arrived to Earth when finally something bad happened. With the blue hedgehog around, Chris knew it was bound to it didn't make it any easier. Especially when he walked into one of the worse sights he had ever seen, one that would stay forever engraved into his mind.

A woman was standing in the hedgehog's room, pinning a weak and drugged Sonic against the bed by his throat while pressing a knife against the helpless hero's neck.

"Drop him. Now."

Chris' voice couldn't be any colder or menacing, but in the inside, he was frozen with fear. Sonic was still too weak to defend himself, and from the vague look in his green eyes, the sapphire hero was still under due to the drugs the doctors had popped into him to prevent him from running around and hurting himself again.

If the hedgehog wasn't exposed to the chemicals, the blond teenager knew the sapphire speedster would have swiftly brought an end to the attempt on his life, injured or not. Sure, Sonic was aware of the situation, but he wasn't in a position to argue or fight back. In either way, at this very moment, his life depended on Chris.

"Walk away kid. This does not concern you."

His hands tightened into fists as he glared at the woman. "It does. That's my friend's throat you're about to cut open." Chris hissed, taking a step closer towards the bed, only to flinch when the knife was passed harder against the hedgehog's jugular. A thin trail of blood ran down the blade, the sight making his blood boil.

The woman snorted. "I should have guessed." The will-be killer muttered under her breath. "Not everyone is allowed in this section of the hospital since the rat was brought here. Christopher Thorndyke?"

"Yes."

"You look taller from afar."

"I blame genetics."

"We all do."

"Are you going to let him go?"

"No. Are you going to walk away?"

"No."

"Shame. We wouldn't want to damage that pretty little face of yours, hmm?" Despite the position and condition he was in, Sonic's emerald eyes narrowed dangerously."I'm going to like this. Little snobby rich kids like you start screaming the second there's a little blood." The woman grinned dangerously as she spoke, her eyes on Chris and her knife pressed tightly against Sonic's jugular. The later's bright emerald eyes were darkening at each word, the azure quills rising slowly, tearing into the pillow behind him as his ears folded back.

Chris knew the hero was moments away from snapping.

"Maybe I should carve that beautiful face first...I love leave a mark..."

What followed next was too fast for him to comprehend.

There was a flash of brilliant light: one that flashed like a miniature sun, a multitude of colors that left him blind, followed by a strange crackling sound and the smell of burned flesh. The woman screamed, leaning away from the hedgehog and stumbling back, her howls of agony curling Chris' blood.

He charged in the second the knife was pointed away from his friend, punching the would-be murderer in the face, propelling her against the plain white wall, before backing away, fists raised, standing protectively in front of a annoyed Sonic, who was trying very hard to sit up.

"...m' not Princess Peach..."

"Shut up Sonic." Chris calmly snapped back, pausing as he noticed what had happened to the woman's left arm. It was burned beyond recognition, the hand missing completely and what was left of her arm muscle was charred and burned back, revealing the pale white bone covered in sot and blood. "You'll pay me back later anyways, knowing my track record."

 _How did Sonic do that?_

The woman howled in pain and rage, the sounds of a cornered animal, and proceeded to barrel Chris to the ground in a ill-fated attempt to reach Sonic. The young man, while still smaller than her, held his ground with brute strength and punched her in the gut, sending the would-be murderer tumbling to the ground.

That did not deter the woman, who waved her armed hand around as she fell, and managed to carve the leg of her opponent. Chris yelped in pain as the knife cut into his left leg, forcing him down as Sonic yelled out in concern.

The attacker sat on his chest, her weapon aimed high, towards his face. Her eyes glinted oddly, a pale, unnatural milky white color. She had been standing to close to the source of light, and had been blinded by it as a result.

Yet it didn't stop her from trying to reach her goal.

A blue foot slammed into the woman's face with a sickening crack: forcing her to fall on her back, away from Chris, who winced, knowing just how much Sonic's powerful leg muscles were developed. Enhanced by the ambient Chaos energy the sapphire speedster had been exposed to at a young age, the strength hidden inside of the slim, twig-like limbs was terrifying. The blow had the blind murderer stunned, giving her almost victim time to get up and step away from her, closer to the bed.

"Thanks Sonic."

"Just don't get yourself carved again." The Blue Blur said with a displeased grimace on his face as he examined his bare right foot, now covered in blood. "This is just disgusting. Next time I'm letting you get stabbed."

"Great to know how much I mean to you." Having recovered the woman shrieked, pointing her severed hand towards them and screaming obscenities despite the obviously broken jaw she sported. Chris was disgusted by the sight: her mouth was literally caved in by Sonic's strength, and blood oozed out of the deformed mouth, making a river that pooled in her shirt and cleavage. That, and with her destroyed hand, rolling eyes, she looked like a undead monster straight out of his nightmares. Sonic hadn't pulled his kick at all.

And then bright orange flames burst out of the woman's open mouth, nose and eyes.

She shrieked and fell at Chris' feet, who watched with a open mouth as his near murderer rolled on the ground, covered in apricot flames. Strangely, the fire didn't seem to spread, barely leaving a burnt mark on the pearly white ceramic floor. It mere moments the only thing left of the disfigured woman was a skeleton blackened by the flames covered in strips of charred flesh.

Chris turned towards his friend, who was looking at the cadaver with a mildly repulsed expression, a hand massaging his sore throat. The blond himself was almost retching from the smell of burnt flesh.

"Took you long enough."

The blond teenager nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice suddenly spoke from his left. "If someone hasn't fired an Ether Orb to my face, I would have been here with you." Chris looked at the source of the dry voice, a orange hedgehog with entirely blue eyes, bright orange fur, and two long quills dangling from the back of his head.

"You know I don't have any control over what I do when I turn into that."

"No worry, it barely grazed me." Chris had enough. One of the many things the blond student hated with a passion was being ignored while crucial information -such as the identity of the hedgehog that just flipped the bird to the laws of physics and appeared next to him- was passed around as if everyone was in the same page. "At least we got you out of the Aether, as strange as the method was."

"I'm sorry, who are you again?" The unknown hedgehog and Sonic stopped in mid confrontation, and as if they were twins, the two hedgehogs turned their heads towards the annoyed blond, only to blink owlishly at him. Chris crossed his arms, waiting for the two to speak. The hedgehogs merely stared in silence, oddly enough since Sonic was known to be a loudmouth, irritating the young man further. "I'm waiting!"

"Right." The apricot furred hedgehog said, looking at Chris in the eye. "Glad to meet you, Christopher Thorndyke. My name is Vicini, the Element Spirit of Energy..."

A series of loud shouts came from behind the room's door. It seemed as if the security the men the police had assigned to guard Sonic had finally realized something was wrong...Chris was impressed they found out by themselves. He was sure he would have to step outside and call the guards by himself.

"...and it seems like time here has been cut short." The orange hedgehog groaned, bringing forth a sigh from Sonic, who was leaning back on his pillow. "Bummer...well, we should meet again soon enou-"

"Vicini, scram now."

"Got it."

A flash of light later and the mysterious creature was gone.

Just in time as well, for the door snapped open to let loose a flood of policemen upon the remaining two living inhabitants of the room.

xxxxxxxx

"Christina Cooper."

Sonic paid no mind to the blond teenager peering over his shoulder, too busy examining the document laid out in front of him. The Blue Blur did not blame Chris from wanting to know more about the woman who almost stabbed him in the eye and tried to slice his friend's neck off.

Age. Birthplace. Parents. What she liked, what she hated, everything on the would-be murderer was here. To say the amount of information the government had on the woman creeped Christopher out was an understatement. The blond wondered if they had a similar file on him...probably, knowing that he was a well-known person due to his parents, as well as his involvement with the mobians.

A man stood in front of the young blue-eyed teen and the sapphire hedgehog, dressed in a suit and looking very grim. He was pale, had dark brown hair, narrow green eyes, and a grim expression on his face. Sonic was ready to bet his quills that the man didn't want to be here. The human was here to assist with the current situation...or rather, reassure the duo that today's events would not be repeated.

Chris _highly_ doubted that, and was sure Sonic did, too.

"That woman...I think I saw her somewhere..."

"I am not surprised. She worked for the government." At that a certain blue hedgehog tensed and Chris edged slightly between Sonic and the suit-wearing man. "She...or what remains of her, was the President's personal assistant." The man caught the stares of the three others. "Believe what you want to believe, but what she did was far from being done on our orders. Sonic the Hedgehog is a international hero, and any attack against him must be taken as a act of terrorism."

Sonic's ears perked up and he clapped his hands, suddenly remembering why he knew his attacker. "I remember her! She was the one that threw a towel at the President during the Emerald Fighting Tournament."

Chris' eyes narrowed. It was that woman then. He had seen her a few times on television or high-profile social gatherings or events, such as the tournament, but she had remained mostly in the background, following the country's leader like a shadow. "How the hell does someone like her become the President's personal assistant?"

"That is unknown, but let me assure you that a full investigation will be done."

Sonic sighed. "Well, that's that." The hedgehog declared as he leaped off his bed, landing nimbly on the floor of the new room. It took him a moment to find his balance due to the situation his injured self had been through mere hours ago. "I'm going back to the mansion."

Chris stared at the young blue speedster, feeling at a lost. "Don't you want to know why that woman attacked you?" He asked, a hint of anger at the memory of the dead woman. The human blinked as his companion shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yes, but I'm not one to sit down and wait. I'll get the answer eventually, there is no need to run around like the world has ended. I got plenty of assassination attempts back on Mobius." The azure hero faltered. "Speaking of which, I should get back there soon."

"But how?!"

Of course, Sonic could not resist a opening for a sarcastic comment.

"Isn't brain work your job?"

xxxxxxx

Station Square was just as bright and alive as he remembered it to be. Even more so.

Leaning on the windowsill of his old room, a certain blue hedgehog watched as the sun set behind the towering skyscrapers dotting the landscape of the city. The settlement was exactly as he remembered, the human population still buzzing around even as their main source of light was disappearing over the horizon.

The air smelled of a myriad of scents, like food, gas and plant life; being farther from the center of the city, the smell was cleaner, easing Sonic's sore and tense muscles. This was something he knew; this was a place Eggman had no current access to. He could lean back and finally relax.

The familiar, distant humming and bustling of the humans was lulling him to sleep.

Then his companion decided to sink that beautiful dream before it left the harbour.

"You're going to tell them what's going on soon, right?" Sonic snorted. As if he could sleep with the loudmouth of a guardian he had. Vicini was one that knew how to keep him awake.

"Yep. Soon is the key word, but I prefer its synonym..."

The apricot hedgehog shot a confused stare at his azure charge, who was leaning on the windowsill.

"...the word _now_ is more appropriate." The blue ears were perked, as if they picked up something. At that moment, the door opened and Chris walked in.

Sonic was proud of his friend's reaction to the Element Spirit. In fact, the teenager did not react to the orange hedgehog stretched out on the couch by the slightest. He took the setting slowly, calmly, as if this was an everyday occurrence, evaluating the situation in a composed manner.

"I think we should start by a explanation. A very long, very thorough explanation." Chris drawled dryly, closing the door behind him softly, taking care to not have the wooden door making loud noises when it hit the doorframe.

"...right. Let's start with the beginning, then."

* * *

 **The time it took me to find the assistant's name...oh dear Arceus...I didn't like her at all. When I first started writing the assassination plot -which is not random, you will understand it later *wink wink nudge nudge*- I had made a different script since the assassin was a one time character. But then I started thinking about the President in Sonic X and the Arceus-forsaken pet assistant of his...ugh. She just had to die.**

 **She was that unlovable.**

 **And I have a knack for killing people off. Sorry.**

 **Oh, and in case you are wondering why I say Chris had blond hair, it's because it is blond-red, almost ginger. Look up blonde red on the beautiful god that is Google. That is the best color I can describe Chris' hair. *pets a chained up Chris***

 **His character wasn't very well done the first time I wrote this. I like it better now. He's more believable.**

 **Having been alone most of his life, growing up with only his adult caretakers and his grandfather he became unusually smart for his age, and not to mention very mature -though that went down the drain with Sonic X, since for the first time he had real, actual friends and his brain couldn't compute it, so he went loopy and became extra clingy. In my opinion after the time the mobians left Chris should have grown and returned to his mature views, with a extra slice of sassiness on the side. That's how he's a bit more mature in the Metarex war, but not by much -thanks SEGA, throwing off my interpretation of the character. Anyhow, that's how I envision him.**


	9. Building a Portal

"Are you aware of the theory of opposites?"

Chris frowned, deep in thoughts. "Everything has a something that is the complete opposite of itself, right?" At that Sonic nodded. "Water and fire, wind and earth? The famous Ying Yang concept." Chris responded, leaning back on the futon he had pulled up next to the couch.

Sonic gave him a small smile. "That concept actually defines this whole situation." The Blue Blur said, ears flicking as he smiled sheepishly.

The human teenager raised an eyebrow at that. "What, are you saying Vicini is your inverse image or something?" He asked, only to glare as the said being let out a loud, mocking. laugh.

The azure hero looked horrified. "Chaos, no." Sonic gave the laughing apricot male a flat, deadpan stare, before looking back at his human friend. "I'm saying that Chaos energy has a opposite force, to keep the balance. Ether."

Interested, Chris leaned in. "An opposite force? Interesting. I've never heard of it, and I went through all of Dr. Robotnick's files on Chaos Theory after the Ark fiasco went down. He was an expert on the subject: he should have had a few notes on the opposite force you describe."

"Usually, yes." Sonic nodded. "But Ether does not act the same way as Chaos energy does. It is extremely hard to detect even with the aid of specialized machines, and as far as I know, the Life Plates never appeared on Earth." A pause. The blue hedgehog's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "At least, not within my predecessor's lifetime, or mine."

"The what?" And what did Sonic mean by predecessor? Chris wasn't going to lie. The young man felt completely and utterly lost at this point. Thankfully for the poor blonde, it was then than the unknown orange hedgehog decided to pipe in for his comfortable spot on the couch.

"Just show em' to him, Sonic. That way we save time." Chris glanced questioningly at the apricot-furred hedgehog, who's pupiless eyes were on Sonic. Looking back at the sapphire speedster, Chris caught the Blue Blur huffing, obviously irritated by the interruption. "Fine." The irritated look slipping off his face, Sonic closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was doing something, that Chris knew, but he was unsure what.

Sonic's chest began glowing.

At first, it was just an off white radiating from his upper torso, but slowly it began to gain colors, from red to green and everything in between, with cyan being the primary color. Chris watched in amazement as objects, solid objects the size of his lower leg slipped one by one out of the azure hedgehog's chest, as easily as if they were emerging from water.

His chest is glowing...like when he turned into that...thing...

The mysterious artifacts fluttered around the concentrating speedster in a perfect circle. There were nine in total, hovering around Sonic. Plates the shape of coffins, with golden skins and markings engraved into their surface. Life Plates. Huh. At least part of their names Chris could understand. It was literal.

Sonic looked up at him, emerald eyes hard and stern, a look that he hadn't often seen on the quilled mobian. "This is my task. My past, my present, _my future._ This is who I am. I am the Holder of the Life Plates. I am not only guardian. I _am_ them. They are part of my body, mind and soul. I hold the opposite of the Master Emerald inside of me, and only in death will it leave in search of a new host." Jade eyes flashed, and Chris swore he saw iridescent bands dance in between the strands of green.

"Until then, it is my duty to protect them."

Chris gulped. This wasn't like Sonic at all. He looked away from the serious blue hero and back at the glowing objects. Each of them was different, besides the soft gold aura mixing with their individual ones, and their surface had similar golden colors, though iridescent sometimes mixed in, especially around the middle of the Plates. It was quite the sight for him; they were as beautiful as the Chaos Emeralds, and the stones had been the most incredible thing he had seen...that is, until now.

"Are they safe to touch?" Chris paused, knowing it sounded silly...but he was a scientist at heart. His curiosity always go the best of him. It was then he remembered they were part of Sonic; at the very least he should be careful if not respectful of what the Blue Blur guarded. "Can I touch them?"

Sonic's eyes softened, realizing he had been acting out of character and was most likely unnerving his human friend. "Of course." The young mobian nodded firmly. "Since your Chaos energy is next to none-existent, they won't react badly to physical contact."

Chris looked on with wonder; reaching out with his right hand at the softly glowing artifacts, he glanced at his quilled friend, silently asking for permission. Sonic closed his eyes and seemed to be concentrating, before opening them again and nodding yet again at the blond teenager. Reassured, the young Thorndyke let his hand brush against the closest Plate, the one with the dark purple accents.

It was cool at touch; strangely enough despite the engravings it was smooth and had no bumps or fissures as he let his fingers glide over it's surface. It was simply perfect and ethereal, unlike anything he had ever touched. Not even the Chaos Emeralds's electrifying touch felt as strange as theses Life Plates, but they came close.

Violet lights crackled around his hand like miniature thunderbolts, making him jump as they licked against his skin, but to his relief it merely tickled his limb, forcing him to fight to hold back a giggle at the sensation. "That Plate is the Dragon Element." Sonic murmured, amused by his reaction.

"Dragon?"

The sapphire speedster smiled. "As you see each Plates has different colors. They represent the different elements that make up nature...except two, who keep the rest together. You're touching one of the two Binding Elements. The other one-" He pointed a Plate hovering besides the violet one. This one had softer, smoother engravings, and possessed a pale pink aura with white accents. "-is called the Fae Plate."

The blue hedgehog began naming each and every of the nine objects that made up the artifact. The one with sharp, erratic engravings, and a vibrant yellow and dark grey aura was the Electric Plate. The golden Plate with wide, elegant markings and ominous red aura was the Fire Plate. Another was covered in zigzagging marks and a pale blue aura was the Ice Plate. Chris touched it, and chuckled in amusement when he saw snow tickle out between his fingers. He was forced to let go when ice began to form, less he wanted to lose the limbs.

The one with thick, arching lines encased in a pale, forest green light was the Earth Plate. The one with soft curved lines and a dark blue aura was the Water Plate. The floating Plate with thin, almost inexistent engravings and the menacing grey, almost black aura was the Darkness Plate. The last one had a pale aura and thin marks like the Darkness Plate, and was named the Light Plate.

"I have a question."

"Shoot."

"Where does he come in?" Chris pointed at the apricot hedgehog lazing about on the couch. The said humanoid huffed at the Thorndyke and stretched out on the furniture, rumbling like a content feral cat, happy with only listening on the conversation.

"Oh, him." Sonic eyed with distaste the orange imp, annoyed with the lack of help from Vicini's part. "He is, in a few short words, the equivalent of a Chaos Emerald."

At the human's blank stare, he continued. "Vicini is a Element Spirit, one of the thirty or so aspects of the Life Plates. He's far from being as strong as a Chaos Emerald, or the strongest of Spirits in that case." The blue-eyed hedgehog mock glared at his companion. "-but he still is a being made purely out of Ether. As an Element Spirit, he has a Core, an orb that holds his power and the individual piece of Ether he controls. I can absorb that Core, and it resides inside their dimension, the Aether, which is linked to me and is the equivalent of the Chaos Field. This not only strengthens the Spirit's power, but in return, I have access to their true form."

Before the human could ask what he was talking about the Blue Blur's body began to shimmer, forcing Chris to shy away from the light. Only when it faded away did the teenager looked at his companion, only to stare at the tiny orange imp that fluttered in front of him.

The creature gave a few twirls around Christopher before floating in front of him, grinning like a little devil. Chris reached out with his right hand and brushed the two V-shaped horns on top of the animal's head, feeling searing warmth radiating the bone structure.

Wanting to move on, Sonic flew a step away from his human friend before shifting back. Now that he knew what was going to happen Chris didn't turn away, and as such was free to admire the transformation.

For a lack of a better word, Sonic turned liquid. A glowing, shimmering multi-colored liquid that churned, bubbled and danced, ignoring the laws of gravity up until it regained solid form.

That was awesome. Chris didn't bother denying he thought so.

xxxxxxx

In the early hours of the morning, Chris Thorndyke happily snuggled into his pillow with a dopey smile on his face, not yet ready to face the sunny, cloudless day awaiting for him outside. His bed was comfortable and warm, thank you very much, and he decided to snooze a bit more before greeting the outside world.

"Christopher Thorndyke, get down here already!"

It seemed like someone thought otherwise. Groaning, the teenager rested on his back and put his pillow over his head to block out the noise. His spiky fiend of a friend called out to him again from the staircase, but thankfully for the blond it was muffled by the pillow. Now he could continue sleeping for a few more minutes and then he would wake up to Ella's delicious apple pancakes-

"Get up!" A small but noticeable weight suddenly landed on his vulnerable stomach, bringing a strangled gasp out of the young boy as he doubled over in pain.

"Oooof!"

"We are finishing the portal today _so get your arse moving already_!" Chris moaned in agony, rubbing his sore abdomen and glaring at the young creature sitting in front of him, a small smirk on its face. Sonic looked like he just got out of bed -the roof- and seemed to be just as happy and hyperactive as usual with his quills disheveled, fur ruffled, and emerald eyes almost shining with excitement. Another thing that demonstrated his happiness was the small sparks of iridescent light fizzling around his chest, a sign he had yet to exert full control over what he was carrying.

"Are you coming down now?" Whoever thought Sonic the Hedgehog was an angel should be shot in the face from Chris' opinion. He volunteered to be the executioner."I should get you a louder alarm clock." The grin was terrifying, nightmarish thing that made the blond quake in his pajamas. "You snooze through it like a bear during winter." The human groaned, grabbing the sapphire hedgehog by an arm and promptly throwing him into the bed as he used the leverage to get up.

"Shut up."

A muffled comeback came from the spiky little fiend currently fighting for his life in the sea of pillows and covers. The biggest downside of being a hedgehog: the quills that clung to everything as if he had Velcro on the back of his head.

Chris huffed as he rose from his bed, raising a hand to pull back the dark blond, near red locks of hair that had fallen in front of his face. Whatever curses and maledictions Sonic growled from beneath the covers were easily ignored by Chris, who quickly dressed himself and rushed down the stairs before Sonic could free himself.

It didn't take long for the Blue Blur to tumble out of the bed, out the room and down the stairs, but when he reached the kitchen Chris was already finishing his small breakfast of an apple. The blue hedgehog pouted, and when he spoke, the tone was full of mirth and mischievousness. "Why an apple? With your size I would have pegged you for an entire cow."

Chris rolled his eyes at the childish comment. "It wakes me up." The blond human muttered through the mouthful of delicious fruit. "I don't want to be half-asleep when we punch a hole through reality and straight to Mobius without the need of the Chaos Emeralds."

Sonic huffed -but whatever he was about to say was cut off by an old man with shaggy grey hair bursting into the kitchen like whirlwind of madness. The human looked a bit too eager with a side of sugar high-esque excitement, a combination that was mortifying in the two youngster's eyes.

"What are you two still doing here?!" The Blue Blur yelped as he was picked up by Chuck like a ragdoll and dragged out of the room. He clawed, shrieked, and howled in a attempt to escape the elder's grasp, but Chuck's enthusiasm was almost contagious, and seemed to have given him enough strength to hold even the hero down. "We have physics to break!" The man exclaimed jovially as he left the kitchen, the struggling hedgehog shouting obscenities as he was carried away.

Chris took his time to finish the apple before following.

* * *

 **The number of shenanigans in this chapter is incredible.**

 ** _Chaos Field_ is a term inspired of the _Chaos Force_ from the Archie Comics. It is linked to the mortal plane via the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, like the Aether. But unlike my creation it isn't a solid world, inspired from the fact that Chaos reacts to emotions. Solid objects can be placed in it, but normally it is a vast void of energy, where you can sometime grasps the emotion of people who are round the links (the CEs and ME).**

 **Yes, there are parts inspired of _Pokemon_. Yes, the form Vicini and Sonic turn into is Victini. This concept was there at the beginning of the draft for the series, and while it's corney as heck, it won't have that much importance besides the form and a few inspired arcs that will NOT be at all resembling the base inspiration of Pokemon.**

 **I should have pulled the forms out and made my own, but the Holder Series kind of grew around the concept of the transformation since I was eleven, until it became it's own separate thing, and I had a dream of Sonic transforming into a Latios -don't ask, dreams are dreams. I won't take that away as a tribute to my younger self, and tipping the hat to the Pokemon series, since I grew up with that stuff.**

 **I was my diapers when I watched the first Pokemon episode.**

 **For those who wonder why I didn't use all the types in Pokemon for the Life Plates, it's because I didn't want too many Plates, and I just kept the most important ones. The Fae Plate is actually the Fairy-type Plate, but I don't like the name of the type, so it's just Fae, which is a kind of fairy. That way the name stays in context. So this is how it goes. The Plates are one big artifact. If separated, it gets unstable and dangerous, especially if one of the Binding Elements are missing.**

 **I made the Life Plates by inspiring myself from Arceus', and the episodes in Sonic X where Knux has to go running around in search of the pieces of the Master Emerald. While the ME is in one big piece, and breaking would not affect it, the Plates are multiple pieces that need to stay together in order to be stable.**

 **So yeah, that's it.**


	10. The Expected Reunion

"Aren't there a easier way to do this? Like, one that doesn't have me freezing my fur off?"

"Stop whining." The words came out a hiss that promised hell if the hedgehog didn't comply.

The gentle purring of the machinery eased Chris' nerves. Sonic sat besides him on a stood, eyes dropping, ears occasionally twitching as he fiddled around with the faded rings around his wrists, bored out of his mind. Small instruments clung to his body, slowly drinking in the Ether energy required to power the new portal. The Blue Blur looked mildly uncomfortable as his energy was siphoned off by the probes, but made no move to rip the tiny contraptions off and run halfway across the globe.

Overall, it didn't take much to power the machine; since they had ample amounts of Ether energy available, the only worry they had was if the portal could handle the tremendous power without collapsing. With Sonic's assistance, the two Thorndykes worked around the clock for the last two months to develop the technology capable of handling Ether energy, since there wasn't many options when it came to finding adequate source of power of the machine.

The notes on Chaos energy from Gerald Robotnick as well as the remains of Eggman's past creations -though the later had taken a while to claw out of GUN's vicious talons- had helped greatly when designing the current machine.

Chris had the sneakiest suspicion blackmail was involved when they had to handle the Guardians of the United Nations for the technology, but Chuck hadn't answered when he asked, merely shrugging nonchalantly before skipping his way to his laboratory, a grumbling blue hedgehog in tow.

"So far so good." Chris muttered under his breath as his eyes flickered over the screen, where all the information and data on the portal was slowly gathering. The machine was stable, only twitching a bit at the beginning as Sonic struggled to find a good pace to release Ether energy from the Life Plates.

Already the results were showing. The portal's gate, based off the one they had used to send the mobians home, was glowing a bright iridescent, with sapphire hues being the most dominant color. The small whirlwind of colors grew at a steady rate, to Chris and Chuck's excitement. Vicini was at the other side of the garden, staying away from the machine in case his natural energy would interfere with the delicate charging process.

"It's almost done! Chris, start with the coordinates!" Chuck shouted from the other side of the massive portal, which had been too big to place inside the garage, and was sitting outside until they had a better solution, as he fiddled with the cords connecting the machine to Sonic, checking them over incase they got damaged by the currently passive and docile Ether energy.

Knowing that once the machine fully charges it will be almost impossible to change the location of the fissure in time and space, Chris immediately began adjusting the portal, remembering the last time he had done it, when he was forced to send his friends back to their home world.

They had to go back in case our worlds merged. What a case of bullshit. With the uncovering of Christina Cooper's traitorous ways, there was a full-on investigation on everything she had done. During said investigation officials had discovered the documents on the supposed 'Planetary Fusion' the woman had foreseen. It turned out to be nothing but forged papers...in a few short words, nothing but a lie.

Sonic had been extremely pissed off by that.

Speaking of the said blue Holder, Chris watched as he ripped off the probes with a hiss of content, apparently more than happy to get them off. By now the portal was fully charged, and there was no need for anymore energy until, Chuck theorized, at least two to three months if they kept it working at all times.

"Is it done?" Sonic asked as he peaked at the screens his human friend was looking at. As much as he would like to dive into the now active portal, he didn't want to end up in the middle of nowhere by accident.

Chris gave another spare glance at the data displayed on the portal's monitor. "Yes. It's fully functional and ready to use." The duo shared a content smile at the knowledge they would finally met up with their friends. A disgruntled Vicini walked over the hedgehog and the human, but before he could speak Sonic was already bouncing towards the portal's luminous opening.

"Mobius, here we come~!"

"Idiot hedgehog." Vicini deadpanned with a irritated frown. Chris paid no mind to the apricot Element Spirit. He was excited to see the mobians again, and by the way his grandfather was happily skipping towards the portal in a fashion that was eerily similar to Sonic's, so was he.

As for Sonic, he was practically floating from joy. He hadn't seen his friends in two years, for the love of Chaos. While he had loved the three months spend here on Earth, working on the portal and learning new things about his human friends, he needed to see his brother and the rest of his friends.

Arriving in front of the entrance of the portal, a glowing maelstrom of bright lights, Sonic paused. How much had changed? It had been two years in the Ether, and he knew for a fact the dimension's time flowed far faster than Earth or Mobius, but he had never counted it. How long has it been since his supposed death? Days? Weeks? Months or years? He didn't know, and that lack of knowledge was making his stomach twist uncomfortably.

 _Well_ , pipped in a tiny voice inside his head, _guess the only way he could to find answers was by going to Mobius._

Taking a deep breath, Sonic closed his eyes and stepped into the portal.

xxxxxxx

Well, this was one big downside of having Sonic dead.

Eggman was bored out of his brilliant, _wonderful_ mind.

Taking over countries had lost its luster without the blue hedgehog trying to beat him down and ending up making him retreat with his metaphorical tail tucked between his legs. While most of Mobius' zones, like The Oil Zone, Apotos Zone or even Green Hills, where the brat had lived, were perfectly able to defend themselves from the egg-themed villain, and some would be near suicidal to take on, his favorite haunts wasn't as well defended as when Sonic was around.

He could easily overwhelm their military with sheer numbers by using all the robots he had at his disposal. As for the weaker Zones, Eggman was starting to believe he could poke them and they'll flop over like a dead fish.

Thus, the attempts at world-domination were half-hearted at best.

 _I feel like my beautiful brain is rotting away._

Hearing the familiar squeak of his preferred alarm, he glanced away from his boring 8-bit game. Eggman's eyes picked up a strange flutter in data on the computer screen reserved for energy reading. The obese man raised a thick eyebrow at that, before closing his current activity and focusing on the rather curious -well, he had _nothing_ else to do- change in the incoming stream of information.

"What do we have here...?"

xxxxxx

Chris' calibration of the portal had been perfect: when the Blue Blur stepped through the whirlwind of colors, he found himself staring at a small hill with a nice cream house sitting on top of it. The house, which was the one he shared with Tails, looked exactly the same as he had left it.

Hopefully his friends were in a similar state.

"C'mon lets go!" Hearing the three other members of the little group arrive into his dimension, Sonic let out a excited shout and dashed forward, his powerful legs bringing him closer and closer to Tails' workshop.

Within moments he was standing at the entrance of the two-level house. He spotted with joy a two-tailed fox coming out of the massive garage doors, the familiar purple frame of the bi-plane known as the Tornado barely peaking out of it.

When Tails noticed the blue male, he stared blankly at him in a way that made Sonic think his brain had shut down. The two brothers were basically having a improvised staring contest with each other, which was broken when the vulpine genius's wide eyed stared turned flat.

"Please tell I'm not dreaming."

"No," The Blue Blur exclaimed with mirth as he winked at the younger Mobian. He grinned widely, happy to see the other again. After spending two years with an snarky Element Spirit and a enraged Metarex, this was a nice change of pace. "I'm too awesome to be nothing but a-"

Unexpectedly, Tails responded by dropping on the ground on a dead faint.

"...ops."

In his defense, Sonic had nothing more intelligent to say.

It was then that Cosmo emerged from the house, a plate of cookies in her hands, looking almost identical to last time Sonic had seen her. The dark lines under her eyes and the haunted look to them were gone however, and the blue hedgehog thought it was for the best. The Seedrian had suffered greatly during the Metarex War, having lost her entire family to the giant cyborgs. It was nice to see her finally looking happy and alive.

"Tails, dear what is - _oh_."

The young female paused, taking in the sight of a catatonic Tails and the group of misfits standing in front of the workshop. Sonic was surprised by the lack of screaming, but he figured that this was Cosmo, one of the most balanced and quirk-less member of the group.

"Hello Sonic, I didn't expect to see you again." The plant girl smiled sweetly at him. "It's good to see you. Please, come in. I just finished baking some food." She added to the last statement by pointing with her eyes the plate brimming of freshly made pastries she was holding.

Alright, it was just a bit unnerving, but it wasn't like Sonic was going to admit it.

"Tails, honey, you should get up. The floor is not a very comfortable place to sleep this time of year."

The fox just groaned.

Pitifully.

xxxxxxx

To his credit, Tails didn't start screaming like a lunatic when he realized this really was his supposedly dead brother standing in front of him while smiling like a loon would after escaping a mental institution.

He simply had a panic attack, which was an entirely different thing.

A half-hour later, inside the two-tailed fox's workshop, the said owner of the fine establishment was sitting on his couch, nursing a cup of his favorite coffee as he stared at the blue and the orange hedgehogs sitting in front of him. The duo had just finished explaining what had happened during the final moments of their battle against Dark Oak, and what Sonic had been holding inside of him, leaving the fox thoughtful.

"...so when you disintegrated on the Blue Typhoon, you actually teleported?" Telling the whole thing to Tails hadn't been as easy as explaining it to Chris, since Tails was a being of proof and logic like the human but took it to another level. It was only when Sonic showed him the Plates, and both he and Vicini transformed, that the young kit began believing them.

And by believing them, it meant tackling the Blue Blur to the ground.

"Grhaaa! Tails!"

"You stupid, bumbling fool!" The fox exclaimed, ignoring the other's yelps as he practically choked him with his hug. His bright azure eyes barely contained the tears of relief and anger. "Months of bullshit, just to find out that you were alive after all! Next time you die, I'm _not_ going to mourn you!" By the end of the genius' small speech, Sonic had given up on trying to escape his grasp, and awkwardly patted the boy's back.

"Uh...yeah. I'll sent you a memo next time instead of waiting to come here personally." He had never been good at this kind of thing. Nevertheless, this was his friend, and more importantly his brother. Sonic would do anything to get him cheered up.

Speaking of friends...

"Tails..." The fox looked down at the pinned hedgehog and blinked. "...do we have to call everyone?"

Tails blinked. He hadn't expected that. "Yes, everyone. Why?" He stared in confusion as the azure speedster groaned and left his head fall back against the wooden floor of the living room, quills and ears dropping limply.

"...even Amy...?" Oh. That explains it. Especially with that long, pained whine. He knew that whine. The fox kit also knew what the pink, hammer-wielding female could do, and was pretty sympathetic to the cause.

Well, as sympathetic as one could get without getting involved with the situation, because there was no way in the name of Chaos Tails was getting within a ten foot pole of the obnoxious fanatic that was Amy when she was in the mood for a Sonic Hunt. The young genius couldn't remember how many times those chases ended badly, and could count with one hand which ended peacefully.

Now that Tails thought about it, he would only need a single finger for that.

"Yes, _even_ Amy."

"...but..." The blue Holder looked down at him, trying his best to make his eyes as big and as innocent as possible...but the fact was that Sonic had always been terrible at making the puppy face. Vicini was holding back his laughter by placing a hand over his mouth, and Chris seemed to be in a similar dilemma.

"Look at it this way; at least you won't have the danger of accidentally bumping into her when out for a walk and having to drag her to her house because she passed out."

"...still."

And it was then the ever so helpful Vicini. "Do want to be stuck with Amy or you want to go back to Dark Oak?" The Element Spirit gave him a coy smirk. "I can get you to the Aether in a jiffy." The drawling voice had an undertone of amusement in it, one that made the other inhabitants of the room smile -that is, save the disgruntled blue hero.

Sonic cringed and made a disgusted face, leaning back as if he was trying to get away from a invisible attacker. "At least Dark Oak doesn't try to kiss me all the time."

"..." Tails looked truly mortified, and he wasn't the only one making the expression.

"What?"

"Bad mental image." Both Cosmo and Vicini muttered dryly as if part of a chorus. The other occupants of the room who had meet the leader of the Metarex winced at the image, and Sonic made a face of disgust as he realized what his companions were getting to.

xxxxxxxx

Most of the reactions, well, Sonic had expected.

Amy, quite understandingly, had screamed loudly his ears at the sight of him -even minutes after her cries were silenced by Vicini's glare...and the fireball he was tossing about. Afterwards the girl had stayed quiet in fear of invoking the wrath of the fire-type spirit, but exchanged her yells with simply clinging to a very irritated azure Holder.

Knuckles' hard magenta eyes had softened at the sight of him, and despite his attempts at staying aloof, the blue hedgehog had seen through it and swept him in a old-fashioned hug...that is, right after he partially transformed, slowing down the liquefying and reconstructing parts of his morphing ability long enough to practically melt out of Amy's arms. The young girl had been severely grossed out by it and expressed it greatly, but Sonic paid no mind. She would learn to not hang off him at every possible opportunity.

As for Shadow and Rouge, well...the black hedgehog had acknowledged he could see he was there -and alive- with a grunt, while the white bat ruffled the top of his head, congratulating him in being, well, alive and breathing and began telling him of everything that had happened since his absence. While not much had occurred, it still made Sonic grateful towards the snow-furred bat.

The Chaotix's reaction was...well...chaotic. Vector, Charmy would have killed him by crushing and suffocating the poor hedgehog to the ground -well the crocodile did, since the little bee didn't weight more than Cream- if Espio hadn't pulled them off before giving the purple-face Blue Blur a friendly handshake. Sonic had eyed the extended hand for a moment before taking it, apprehensive that the violet chameleon would put him in a similar predicament his two sheepish companions had.

Explaining his powers had gone well enough. Knuckles, being the descendant of a tribe of echidna that practically worshiped the Emeralds and Shadow, having been created for the sole purpose of wielding Chaos energy to bring hell to the battlefields, had been a bit skeptic at first. That is, until Sonic had grown irritated and practically shoved the Life Plates into their faces.

Amy hadn't cared much, only saying that the iridescent shade of Ether energy was prettier than Chaos -and receiving a facepalm from most of the room's occupants, and Cream hadn't even noticed the floating Plates, more intent on hugging the young azure male. The Chaotix had been hysterical, since they had never even heard of such a thing and began curling up in a corner, wailing that they weren't good enough detectives as such. It had taken a while to calm them down, and Sonic had reassure them that it was normal, since Ether wasn't as known as Chaos, and it was harder to find it in the ambient air without a Holder or Spirit nearby to rouse the dormant energy.

So at the end, Sonic was very happy but tired hedgehog when everything was said and done. The drain of energy he had suffered after powering the Ether Portal was getting to him.

The roof was just as comfortable as he remembered, laying there staring up at the skies. The stars gleamed softly in the night sky, familiar and comforting. For a moment, he expected the unnatural auroral borealis he had been used to seeing the last two years to paint the sky with their bright colors. Being made out of excess Ether energy, they were beautiful and at the rare occasions Dark Oak wasn't watching Vicini's tower like a hawk, he would transform and fly high, letting the energy that made up every cell of his body seep into his pores and energize him.

 _Even as beautiful as they are, I wouldn't trade the stars of Mobius for them._

"Sonic!"

Snapped out of his musing, the said male crawled and peered down from the edge of the roof. Tails was standing at the front door, looking up at him. "Cosmo and I are just about to settle down and go to sleep. Do you need anything?"

"No worries!" He called out at the boy, who was smiling up at him. "I'm just fine -hey!" He was faintly aware of frantic yelling coming from the house, but what truly caught his attention was the cold metallic object wrapping itself around his waist and lifting him off the house.

The blue hedgehog wiggled around, trying to get away as the metal claw brought him to what looked like a very large, very mechanical red ship with a familiar face painted on it's side. He couldn't help but stare. How the hell did this hunk of metal sneak up on him?

Sonic blankly gazed into the oversized gatling gun that was suddenly aimed at his face.

 _Ops_. He had a feeling that he was forgetting someone.

* * *

 **I did, before the rewrite, ship Cosmo x Tails ship, but I realized Tails was way too young to have a relationship. Anyhow, it may happen in future episodes, but not now.**

 **A Gatling Gun is a type of large, heavy machine gun that fires from multiple barrels. Check Google if you want to know more about it. Too bad there isn't something like that in the Monster Hunter games. Farming monsters would be so much easier. Oh well.**

 ***sighs and picks up her DS for another round against Shagaru Magala***

 **I'm not the only one that is frustrated when you have to keep spamming a quest or dungeon for the one item you're missing, _right_?**


	11. The Unexpected Reunion

**For the guest that said he was saddened that the Holder Series got deleted, I'm sorry :( I really wanted to do a more defined structure, lore-wise and writing-wise, and shoving the entire first season in one story seemed like the best way to go. It gives me the time to improve the chapters already written, and refine some Arcs. Don't worry, after your rant I'll be updating faster. Expect the next Arc to be out in 6 to 7 hours.**

 **The frantic rhythm of the updating will slow down as we reach Arc 5-6, since 6 I just started writing and 5 I want to improve the first few chapters. So anyway, less talking, more writing.**

* * *

"Oh." Sonic commented dryly, eyelids dropping halfway in irritation as the mechanical talon tightened on him. He didn't react to it; Dark Oak's vicious hold had been far worse than this. "I forgot about you." Then again, the villain hadn't been in his list of priorities.

Now it seemed he was, though.

"Of course you did, you bumbling fool!" The familiar voice thundered from the ship's speakers, making the trapped blue hedgehog wince at the high-pitched buzzing following Eggman's voice that came from the machines.

Sighing, Sonic placed his elbows against the robotic claw holding him and held his head up with his hands. "You know this is not very civil, even for you, Egghead!" While he spoke he sounded sarcastic, but he was focused on something else, scanning the limb holding him. It was connected to the frontal half of the ship, from which the gun the size of a small house was aimed at his head.

Kind of overkill but _meh_ , this was nothing he hadn't dealt before.

"Civil? _CIVIL_?! You are the one who isn't civil, pretending to be dead!" The booming shriek of indignation emerged from the speakers like a monster's roar. "You know how boring it is when there's nobody who can stand up against you?!" This time there was a distinctive whine at the end. "Where have you been, rodent?! I've been losing brain cells over here! I need a good fight!"

"Then you have it now." Sonic's small grin had a challenging gleam it. "I hope you've been getting stronger during the time I have been away." A hint of iridescent flashed from a pair of emerald green eyes. "Because I have!"

He liquified and slipped away from the claw's cold grip just in time to see the cannon's laser fry the spot he had been dangling from moments ago. Ignoring the maniac's surprised cries and the cheering coming from the house below, he quickly transformed into the only spirit form available to him. His tiny red-tipped wings stretched out, bringing him high in the sky like a small rocket.

The young hedgehog hovered for a moment just above the airship. From here he could see Eggman and his robotic henchman gesturing wildly inside the cockpit of the giant ship. The familiar, hilarious sight brought an impish grin to his lips as he dove sideways, avoiding a round of bullets from the oversized Gatling gun.

 _Hope you like the taste of fire, Egghead!_

His horns burst into apricot flames. Pausing for a moment to admire the curious feeling of the fire running up and down the V-shaped structures, he angled downwards, towards the front of the ship. Without further ado he dived in, dodging a laser beam before the technique crashed into Eggman's ship.

The metal bent, the ship groaned and lurched beneath him before giving in. With a great crash, he tore through the vehicle, fire dancing in front of his eyes, feeling wires and metal melting away as he speared through them.

And quite suddenly, he was inside the cockpit, back in his humanoid form with several egg-shaped, purple battle robots aiming guns at him. Sonic didn't wait for an invitation, and neither did the guards. He crouched just in time to feel the heat of a laser beam against his back, and the blue hedgehog wasted no time dashing forward, curling up and bristling his quills as he formed his signature Spindash.

The sound of metal breaking was music to Sonic's ears. He tore through the first bot, bounced off it's remains and charged at the three remaining ones. The azure speedster darted from left to right, avoiding the machines' projectiles with ease, and slammed through their heads when he was close enough.

Landing in front of the last pile of mechanical limbs, he turned towards Eggman. The defeated scientist was cowering behind two small assistant robots, a cube-shaped and a round-shaped ones. From the distasteful glances the duo spared at each other, they were a bit miffed by their creator's selfless action.

The Blue Blur looked down at the robots with his hands on his hips. "Don't get in my way and I won't crush on you. Do you have a deal?" Knowing the other option would be particularly unpleasant and fatal, and they wanted their owner to learn a little lesson, the two machines shrugged before floating aside, giving the azure hero a wide berth.

"He's all yours sir." The round robot said politely, ignoring Eggman's irritated shriek at their cowardliness. The cubic one yelled out something in a western accent, but Sonic ignored him. His eyes were glued on the bald human standing before him, hands raised in surrender.

"I might have gone rusty, but that was your _fault_!" The man started with a frantic, angry rant, but the Holder cut him off. "If you haven't been gone for so long my beautiful brain wouldn't have decayed in such a-"

"It was simply pathetic, Eggy." His furrier nemesis replied dryly, getting a glare in return for his comment. Sonic wasn't in a mood to continue this conversation. The day had been too long in his opinion. "Now listen here, Egghead." Sonic hissed as he drew his face nearer to the human's, his eyes flashing, turning into a blinding shade of iridescent that made the round man gape like a earth-bound fish. "I've been having a very tiring day. I got leeched on by a machine, then I had to endure the longest explanation session in the world, and now you rear your ugly head and makes things worse when I was about to fall asleep." His eyes narrowed further and he pointed a accusing finger at the scientist.

"So you can leave right now with your tail between your legs, or next time we fight I'll aim at _that_ _stupid brain_ _you worship so much._ "

Too mortified by the prospect, Eggman could only nod dumbly.

xxxxxxxx

Sometime later he was laying once more on the roof of the house, content and even more tired than before. By now the moon was high in the skies, covering him with it's light. Sonic sighed, leaning further back against the roof of the workshop.

The familiarity of the action soothed him. Finally, finally, he was home; no more Dark Oak chasing him around. Just peace and tranquility...before Eggman reared his ugly mug again and he had to rush around trying to fix everyone's problems.

 _If only life could be simpler..._ Jade eyes rolled at the amusing thought. As if.

 _I wonder what would have happened if Dark Oak hadn't blasted me and Shadow, awakening the dormant Life Plates._ _Would I continue my life as it was, or would Dark Oak have won the battle...?_ Despite the grief and pain he had caused with his disappearance, he wouldn't trade the life he had now for the world. Smiling softly, his hand reached down and laid against his chest, feeling the comforting thrumming and humming of the Life Plates churning inside of him.

He had to wonder what would have happened if he never had them...

The skies suddenly warped, the familiar sight changing into a menacing metal ceiling and bolts lining the edges of each panel that made up the structure. Sonic frowned and tried to blink away the memory, but it was there, tenuous and present, rearing it's ugly head like a pesky mosquito that he couldn't squash, no matter how much he tried.

 _The machine's cuffs were tight on his wrists and ankles. He cringed at the cold, unforgiving sensation of metal pressing against his skull. He didn't like this._

 _"Mr. Tybalt? What is this?"_

 _There was no answer. He was ignored like a mice's cries of panic during an experiment. The man danced around his bound form, adjusting machinery and writing down notes. He gulped. He didn't like this. Something told him he had to get out of here, but his cries and questions remained unheard as he struggled feebly. The child looked at the imposing machinery he was trapped in, eyes wide with fright._

 _And then it began moving. Parts twisting and shifting. He felt his body spread in a X, and struggled even more. The machine in front of him continued to change and move..._

 _...and suddenly there was someone in front of him._

 _A woman, with eyes that were dull and dead. She was riddled in scars and her hair had been cut off, leaving uneven strands of brown. What could have been a truly beautiful face was nothing but disfigured flesh. She was trapped in a similar fashion as he was...but there was metal tubes stabbed into her, and her cloths were bandages which clung to her form and barely hid her modesty._

 _He stared. He had seen her before...it was the Woman in the Tube. The one that had always been trapped inside that cryo-room, frozen in time. What was she doing here, out of her chamber? Mr. Tybalt had always told him she was very sick and needed to stay there to survive..._

 _...what was his caretaker planning?_

 _Something bright and cold emerged from the woman's chest, and all he knew was pain, cold and iridescent light._

A low growl came forth from between peach lips. _Oh no._ Not this crap again. It has been years since he had dreamed of the event that had changed his life forever, and he didn't like it replaying it again. It left a bad aftertaste in his mouth, like a bad sign for what was to come.

Sighing, the blue hedgehog closed his eyes.

Sometimes, he just hated being immortal. Forgetting shit was harder with his condition.


	12. Picnic Time!

**It took me awhile to start up the writing juices again. Whoopsie. Anyways, here you go guys! Just to be warned, this arc is a roller coaster. From happy to sad, to ridiculous to serious, it was hard to write.**

 **It's not perfect, but meh, tell me if you spot any errors. It far better than the original one. I'm quite happy with it's length, and I'm striving to make as much interaction between characters, mostly with the cannon ones. Sorry Vi, you will get benched soon enough.**

 **Vicini: I was starting to think I was lovable.**

 **You are, but I just don't want you to take that much of a big role. You will have your moments, but the two next chapters will have more interaction between the cannons.**

 **Vicini: The cannon characters always get the good parts.**

 **Oh shush. *pats head* At least I'm not killing you, like most of my OCs.**

 **Vicini: *rolls eyes* So grateful, it's incredible.**

* * *

 **Act 3:** **Picnic Time!**

* * *

Normally, Sonic would be able to sleep.

It was easy. He just laid down on whatever surface he found comfortable and closed his eyes. His ability to run at the speed of sound had always come with two major weaknesses. His anatomy and bone structure was weaker and more fragile than a normal mobian's, and when he ran too much his body would demand massive quantities of sleep, something forcing him to slumber up to an entire day.

This was one occasion. A few hours earlier Eggman decided he had the next big tool for world domination. The robot, cleverly named Illusion-bot, was able to do just that; illusions and fake copies of itself. Now normally that wouldn't be a problem. The problem was that in between the illusions, there were battle robots ready to unleash hell upon the Holder.

So he had to treat _every_ illusion he saw as if it was real, even the double-headed Perfect Chaos. That had been a _bitch_ to take down.

Needless to say that when he got his hands on the Illusion-bot, he was pissed...and Eggman didn't even wait for him, he just left the moment the young hero managed to tear off one of the robot's arms and tried to throw it at his face like if it was an hunting spear.

...how in the name of _Chaos_ did Eggman even get to Earth in the first place?! Sonic leaned his head back against the roof and let out an irritated hiss. At first he thought the madman had been sneaking through the Ether Portal, but then Chris pointed out it was Eggman who got him back to Earth.

It meant that the scientist had the technology to go back and forth as he pleased.

Which was just **fantastic**.

 _Just when I thought Earth was egg-free._

The universe just hated him.

Groaning softly at his fortune, the hedgehog rolled to his side and curled up in a tight ball, his thick fur blocking the soft September winds. He closed his eyes tightly, desperate for even a moment of sleep...but just like the last few nights, the memories crawled out of whatever shadows they had hidden themselves and reared their ugly, vicious little heads at him.

 _Pain and panic._

 _That was all he knew._

 _He ran, the woman at his side panting as she struggled to keep up. His head hurt, throbbing and aching as he felt his owner's rage, a boiling magma that seemed to drag everything around it to it's burning depths. He would be there soon. Tybalt would catch them._

 _And then he would kill her, and destroy what little will to live he had left._

 _He snarled. No! That wasn't going to happen! They had get away, they had to escape this hell. He refused to suffer like he had at the hands of that monster!_

 _For once in his life, he refused to be a tool!_

 _Letting go of his companion, he shifted, body growing and morphing until bladed white hooves slammed against the ground. She had a sharp mind. She knew they couldn't get away at their current speed. So as soon as the Holder finished his transformation, she jumped on his back and held on to the majestic horns that flowed from his elegant head._

 _In the distance, they heard the deep thrumming and humming of heavy machinery._

 _He was getting closer._

 _"Hurry!"_

 _He would catch them._

 _Tybalt would catch them and they would die._

He didn't manage to hold it back; the unwilling scream tore it's way out of his throat as he bolted up on his feet, hands curled tightly into fists in a reflexive, instinctive gesture.

...why did his palms feel so cold?

He looked down.

Sonic stared at his gloved hands. The tip of the fingers were already crystalline, sharpened into serrated ends that looked as if it could easily spear through the toughest of metals, blue flames with small strands of iridescent dancing around the edges of his ruptured skin and the burnt fabric.

 ** _"Dammit!"_**

"What the hell was that?!" He heard from the balcony below. Chris. His eyes widened. Aww shit. Did he really scream that loudly? It seemed so. _Darn_. He made a mental note of making sure to stuff something in his mouth next time he went to sleep. "Sonic, are you alright?" Then again, he wasn't sure if that would be comfortable enough for him to be able to catch some zz's. Did he have another alternative?

Maybe changing location would do...? He could give that a try. Memo for the next night; his remaining sleeping spots had now been constricted to the Blue Typhoon -which wasn't in use anymore, the forests...scratch the memo, just any place that was miles away from civilization.

...did he really have to consider the desert outside Station Square? That place had more than a few humiliating memories.

 _"Sonic!"_

"What?!"

"Get down here or I swear I'll come up. Now!" Chris could be scary when he was irked, and the angry banshee scream only made that fact even truer than it already was. The speedster sighed; there was no escaping this one. Like a criminal marching towards the execution block, he began walking towards his friend's balcony.

Sonic glanced back at his fingers, watching the flames flickering at their tips in a old, alien dance. Normally he would appreciate the spectacle of Ether energy fluttering around his hands, but in this situation it gave him nothing else than disgust. "Holder State..." The conflicted sapphire hedgehog muttered with wonder and contempt, frowning as he watched his skin and gloves knit back together, the tiny fires snuffed out as their source lost contact with the outside world.

 _I almost awoke the Holder State while...almost summoned that...thing near my friends..._ Vicini survived last time because he could get away from it with his teleportation. His eyes flickered towards the roof below him.

 _The others..._

They wouldn't last.

The speedster tried walking over to the edge of the roof, but with his trembling body -damn traitorous lump of flesh- he managed to trip and fall over the edge. Luckily Chris was there, half-asleep but still more aware than a normal, sleepy, grumpy teenager should, and good thing he was, otherwise he wouldn't have lasted a moment with Eggman hanging around. The human was quick to catch him before he could have another splitting headache added to the already-high toll.

For a long moment filled with awkwardness and nervous, uncomfortable shifting -wiggling in the hero's case, though not as much as he could seeing as pajamas and human skin didn't fare well against hedgehog quills- the two friends stared at each other, silent, until the azure finally decided to address the elephant in the balcony. "You wanted to see me?" Chris' right eyelid twitched. Uh oh. Not good. Sonic could almost hear the alarm bells screaming in his ears.

"Can you explain what the hell just happened?!"

It was then he noticed there was quite a few people entering Chris' room. The said teen's grandfather was staring at him with concern, along with Tails, a certain pink female -who was quiet for once- and a young rabbit carrying a Chao. He could also spot Ella and Tanaka at the doorstep of the bedroom.

 _Come on_ , he didn't scream that loudly, did he!?

He tried to wiggle out of Chris' grasp, but could only to let out a choked groan as the human tightened his grip on him. Sonic glowered, scowling up at the blond boy, only to see his friend glare down at him with a sharp glint to his eyes.

Dammit. He was so in for it.

"What is going on here?!" The particularly irritated voice echoed through the room as a orange hedgehog suddenly appeared in the room, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. His gaze softened when he noticed the pleading looks Sonic shot his way.

Vicini! His saving grace! It was moments like these that made him adore his guardian; the fact that the other could feel his emotions as echoes through the link they shared. That meant he could get him out of trouble seconds after he caused said trouble!

"I don't know, I was sleeping when I heard him..." Chris began, trailing off at the realization that he didn't know what had provoked the hedgehog trying to wiggle out of his grip like a demented worm to scream in such a way.

Sonic wanted to speak, only to be rendered silent by the sharp glare the Element Spirit gave him. Combined by the ice-cold rage he felt through their link, it cowed him thoroughly. Wordlessly, Vicini walked towards the human, who gave him the shaking hedgehog.

"Let's go, Sonic." He felt his guardian lift him up and growled, but otherwise remained limp. His body didn't have the strength to back up his conscience. The small transformation, coupled with his nightmare, had taken his remaining strength.

At this moment, he just wanted to sleep.

The familiar orange flash would have momentarily blinded him had he not be used to it. He narrowed his eyes at the telltale sign that the Element Spirit of Energy had brought him somewhere else, only for his eyes to soften and his lips make a small, pleased grin when he felt it.

Somewhere else that was cold against his fur and familiar. The azure hero looked around him eagerly as he was let down from the other's grip. The aurora borealis that lit the skies seemed to dance just for him.

The Aether.

 _Home_ , a primal part of his mind rumbled like a content cat. _Homehomehomesafehome_!

"Vi-"

"I know what happened. We are linked, remember?" The apricot spirit sat down on the grass, pulling him with it. The smooth, cool feel of the vegetation calmed the Blue Blur's restlessness and despair. It was for that reason he didn't cut the other off like Vicini had done. "And we are bonded for the next three years or so. I felt the transformation."

Sonic sighed, leaned against the taller Ether-wielder, liking the unnatural warmth of his caretaker's body. It was only for a moment, however, as he quickly remembered what had occurred...or rather, almost occurred. He looked down at his hands, scowling, his mind bringing forth the image of crystal limbs replacing flesh.

It had been a close call. Too close for his comfort.

Chaos. He hated feeling helpless.

"I had one of those dreams again."

For a moment, Vicini stiffened. The apricot hedgehog sat there for several moments, studying the exhausted speedster's expression. It took some time for the Element Spirit to answer.

"Get over it. This moping isn't going to help you." The sapphire orbs narrowed, the light-hearted personality the immortal normally showed to the word vacant. Sonic hated these moments. "Especially if it causes that."

"I could have killed them! I could have leveled the entire city without even knowing it!" The Blue Blur roared, finally breaking down as he began exclaimed how this was unjust. The Element Spirit watched the other trash and yell out his rage and helplessness with a patient expression on his face. He knew that letting it out was easier than bottling it up.

"The Holder State kills." Vicini hissed, cutting off the other's yells, making the boy in his care flinch as if he had been struck. "It kills and maims and destroys. Why? To protect you." He kneeled down closer to the unwillingly shivering hero. A gloved hand reached out and rested on a fawn and blue shoulder, despite how the hedgehog recoil at the touch. "It's a defense mechanism. It does what it can to protect you. You can't help it. You can't control it."

"But..."

"And let's not forget-" Vicini added dryly, a sly smile forming on his lips. "-despite how powerful it is, it has the mind of a peanut. It can fall for the simplest of tricks, and activate for the silliest reasons."

Sonic laughed at that, his voice low and rough from all the screaming. "Still..." He looked down. "A nightmare. The Holder State, the strongest weapon of a wielder of the Life Plates, nearly came out because of a fucking nightmare." The duo exchanged a few chuckles at that, not as light or as heartfelt as their usual banter, but enough for now.

They rose from the grasslands, shaking themselves lightly to get rid of the pale grass. If Sonic noticed that, far away to his left there was a sizable, familiar crater and upturned trees, he didn't comment. Neither did Vicini.

The said immortal merely smiled down at him, as silly grin that forced one to grow on his own, cracked lips. "Come! You can sleep at the Tower tonight." The two hedgehogs walked off towards the familiar, simmering orange construct, the small smile on the other's lips reassuring his companion.

Sonic would never admit that, though. Not in a million years anyways.

xxxxxxx

"Come on, lazyhead! Get up!"

"...leave me 'lone..."

Waking up and going back to Earth was harder than he thought.

Despite the nagging voice in his head throwing a tantrum -a voice he was pretty sure belonged to his guardian- Sonic buried his head into the mattress below him, quills bristling as they warded off the warm hands trying to grab him and throw the sleepy blue hedgehog off the furniture with the threat of prickly, painful death.

"Just...gimme a moment...!" He snarled through the fabrics, tucking in, refusing to meet the outside world. Nothing short of Eggman using a fully charged Eclipse Cannon was going to get him off the mattress.

"If you keep this up, I'll warp you over a lake." Vicini was satisfied to see the instinctive flinch travel the azure hero's figure. While he preferred not to mess with his charge's fears in a manner that would leave him scarred for life, when it came to phobias the Element Spirit believed in the wise treatment of throwing the said object of your fear at your face until you were used to it, therefor not scared of the said thing anymore.

 _If he didn't have psychological issues, as well as the State, I'd be waiting around every corner with a bucket of water._ The immortal sighed. He remembered most of his fellow Spirits had a fun time making their charges face their fears when they were Guardians. Taking a deep breath, he squared his shoulders and placed his hands on his hips and glared down at the lump of blue fur that was causing him so much trouble, so early in the morning. "Are you going to answer, rodent?!" Another bristle came from Sonic, making him smirk. _Good. It was working._ "Get up, hedgehog, before I feed you to the fishes!"

"Like you could!" There it is. That rightful anger, the defiant fire that made Sonic who he was. The angry growl pierced through the tons of sheets the speedster had wrapped himself with, and because of the said fabric the Blue Blur couldn't see the smug smirk growing on his friend's face. "With how I'm holding to this bed which I know for a fact is bolted to the floor-" Damn you Dark Oak, without the Seedrian's constant attacks he wouldn't have taken the stupid decision to tie down all of his furniture. "-you'll teleport half the tower with me!" The Blue Blur heard the fire sprite sigh and curled up tighter inside of his warm next, bracing himself for the explosion.

"Screw this, it's hugging time."

Wait what.

For a moment Sonic merely laid there, confused why the older hedgehog was hugging him like a teddy bear, a random act that caught him off guard. It wasn't like it was uncomfortable, it was just that he didn't understand why the other was holding him in a vice-like grip. Vicini wasn't trying to pick him up; he was merely flopped on top of him, stretched over the unsuspecting, curled up hero that just wanted a few more moments in his safe heaven.

He squirmed slightly in his prison of blankets and suddenly boneless Element Spirits, finding the fire sprite's silence more than a bit unnerving. He felt like if the other was about to strike, and he didn't like it very much. It made him restless, not knowing what was going to happen, not being able to anticipate his Guardian's next move.

... _is it me or is it getting a bit too warm in here?_

It was then that the azure speedster felt the heat coming from the creature's apricot fur and remembered with horror that Vicini didn't associate with the Fire Plate for shit and giggles.

xxxxxxxxx

Several of the Aether's fauna stared at them curiously as they exited Vicini's tower, screaming and shrieking at each other like angry birds. They made no move to interject as the Element Spirit repeatedly grabbed one of his friend's ear and pulled at it each time the grumpy hedgehog got a little to sassy for his taste.

Sonic send the wildlife a wishful look but the weaker spirits ignored his silent pleas in favor of darting deeper into the woods. The small sprites were smart enough to know that tangling with Vicini was suicide -especially if he looked ready to torch a forest- even if it was to save a Holder.

The Blue Blur growled as he watched his possible saviors run as if they had an angry Chaos nipping at their heels. Cowards, the lot of them, the youth grumbled to himself even if he knew that none of them had enough power to stand against a Element Spirit, especially a irritated one.

With a vibrant flash of light the air around them turned into brilliant hues of orange, signifying that the Element Spirit had teleported them somewhere else. Sonic grimaced at the vertigo the teleportation caused; crossing dimension wasn't without a price.

As soon as the bright apricot lights faded, the two males went still as if they had crossed eyes with the fabled Medusa. The Ether-wielding hedgehogs stared at each other, eyes wide enough to cover half of their faces as the enticing smell around them assaulted their sensitive noses with a vengeance.

Then, the duo were nothing but blurs.

"Move!"

"Get out of my way!

"I asked first-"

"You don't even need to eat, you're made out of-"

"It's a luxury, dipshit!"

Very, very hungry blurs.

Ella and Chris didn't even blink as the two males tumbled into the kitchen like rampaging bulls, their eyes and nostrils wide at the heavenly smell that was the elder woman's pancakes. Not quite used to the scene as the two humans, Amy and Cream watched them from their seat, glancing at each other in confusion.

"What?!" Vicini huffed as he grabbed a pancake and quickly sat down to begin his breakfast, making Chris jump. How the heck did he pass from the other side of the room to suddenly being sitting at his side, a plate and utensils that definitively weren't there before. Oh, right. The teen looked at Sonic, who was already sitting at the heavy wood table, stuffing his mouth full of syrup goodness. Figures. Even when fighting, the idiotic hedgehog didn't have the heart to leave his friends in the dust. "This is food from heaven!" Well

"I know!" A certain pink hedgehog pointed at them with the pointy end of her fork, pale leaf green eyes blazing with disgust and anger. Chris discretely scooted his chair away from the hedgehog and the Spirit, who glared at him for a moment before eying the angry female once more. They may be friends, but that didn't mean the human was willing to face the fabled Piko Piko hammer. He liked his brain cells in the condition they were now, _thank you very much._ "That doesn't mean you have to rush in like a bunch of animals! Honestly!" Amy threw her hands up in defeat, the quick movement causing more than one person to recoil.

In their defense, it was instinctive. They knew that any moment now, the hammer would make it's appearance.

"...but you're right!" Amy suddenly gushed out her liking of the elderly maid's food, licking her lips as she did so. The sudden transformation from one side of the emotional spectrum to the other made more than one inhabitant of the room question her sanity. "I don't know how she does it, but it's perfect. I've never eaten anything this good since Vanilla's cooking!"

"Well, thank you Miss Amy. It's a pleasure to feed such a young and spirited group of people." The said woman answered in a joyful tone as she flipped another pancake in the air, though she eyed the girl as she expected her to suddenly start on one of her famous rampages. Cheese watched the flying food with wide eyes and a salivating mouth, but before he could leap at it his owner reached out and grabbed him by his left foot, preventing the disaster. Ella could be quite the demon when she wanted. Interrupting her cooking was a death sentence.

Silence. With the commotion done and dealt with, the room lapsed into awkward silence, the only sounds coming from the utensils the group were using to eat as well as the quiet munching. The lack of sound felt alien, irritating and heavy, clawing at their nerves with vigor. Sonic knew what the others were thinking, and despite wanting to ignore it, he knew it wasn't something he could keep quiet about.

The quick glances the mobians and humans were giving him told him what he needed to know.

"It's called the Holder State."

The other occupants of the room stilled, their attention on the blue hedgehog who was looking at his plate with a dark glint in his jade eyes. "It's the defense mechanism of the Life Plates. They overload the host with energy, transforming their body. Lightos, the leader of the Element Spirits, thinks that the Plates have their own set of instincts and programmed techniques all Holder instinctively know how to use. That's what controls it. The Holder State doesn't think like us; it has one job and it's keeping me alive."

"...even if it needs to destroy everything around him to do so." Vicini finished, speaking with a low, quiet voice.

"You weren't in control when Dark Oak attacked you." Chris' question rang like a statement.

Sonic sighed. "I could have killed you." Cream gave out a small whimper. "I could have killed every last one of you and I couldn't have done anything to stop myself. When it activates, I'm gone. My mind goes to sleep. I didn't even realize what had happened after Dark Oak was killed...not that he really was, though."

"What?!"

"I have no idea how it happened." The Blue Blur tisked at the shocked expressions on his friends' faces. "The Life Plates, just like the Chaos Emerald, have a dimension they are linked with. For the Emeralds it's called the Chaos Field...

...as for the Plates, we didn't get creative. We just called it the Aether. Anyways, I found Dark Oak wandering around after a few days. He was just as confused as me to why he ended up there...and decided to take it out on me as if I was the source of all of his problems." Sonic paused, blinking before adding dryly. "Well..."

"...long story short, Oak and I landed far away from each other, and he had no problem dealing with the Aetherians." At the owlish blinks the others gave him, he quickly added to his explanation. "The Aether fauna is composed of lesser Spirits, creatures that were birthed from excess energy. They aren't strong at all, but they can cause damage. Not to Dark Oak, apparently."

"Good thing I had Vicini with me, otherwise as drained as I was I wouldn't have survived the week."

The silence after that revelation was deafening. Sonic picked at his food, his eyes lowering as he felt the heavy weight of his friends' gaze on him. Uncomfortable, he tried to redirect the conversation. "So, what are you guys doing today?"

Chris blinked owlishly. "You want to do something with us?" The young human was obviously taken off guard by the azure's suggestion.

Sonic paused, thinking the idea over once more before shrugging as he reached out and served himself a glass of orange juice. "I spend two years with a idiotic spirit and a crazy robot. It's not a crime that I want to participate in a social act after spending that much time alone?" The Blue Blur explained with a slight sardonic tone, gulping down the drink in one go.

In his defense, he hadn't eaten much last night.

Vicini glared at the eating Blue Blur from his seat across the table. He made a show of grabbing a piece of his pancake and chewing it loudly, showing off his sharp teeth in a threat display. _We'll see who's the bumbling fool..._ The act was that of a feral beast, a hint of fire imp the normally well mannered -for the most part- being truly was.

A certain rabbit began leaping up and down from her seat. A Blue Chao hovered excitingly above her head. "How about the theater?" Cream suggested with a energetic smile on her face. "I'm sure there should be something all of us will enjoy!"

"As fun as it sounds, I should decline the offer." Sonic immediately shook his head in disagreement, an amused smirk on his fawn lips as he glanced at Vicini with a mischievous glint in his jade eyes. The Fire Spirit was eating his omelet, trying to ignore the other's gaze. "Our dear friend would have another panic attack." The immortal's threatening hiss that followed his remark didn't faze the hero.

"I don't want to pay for another cinema screen. Those things are expensive." Chris muttered through Vicini's animalistic hissing, refraining himself from using any kind of cursing, seeing as Cream was here, and Ella would come down on him like a wrathful angel -one who decided wielding a wooden ladle was better than the usually decorative spear. Those things hurt.

"Don't bring it up."

"Why?"

Eyes narrowed in distaste, the Element Spirit stretched out a hand in front of him. A apricot-shade fire began dancing on his palm. Mobians and humans alike recoiled at the sight, taking a step away from the immortal or scooting their chairs farther away from him.

"Oh."

Sonic's blank answer brought upon him a few snickers from the other occupants of the room. The cobalt hedgehog glared from the corner of his eyes.

Ella let out a low hum as she began cooking once more. "What about a picnic?" The tan woman suggested as she flipped the pancake she was preparing, fully concentrated on her task. If there was one thing Ella held sacred, it was the perfect quality of her food.

"That's great!" Already excited to know the object of her adoration was going to spend the day with them, Amy immediately grabbed onto the idea.

Sonic immediately began regretting his idea.

As normal for him, he felt back to the beautiful and most treasured skill that was sarcasm. "The idea has some merit..." The blue speedster's sly smirk wasn't comforting. At all. Neither were his narrow, thoughtful eyes. For the rest of the occupants of the room, a plotting Sonic it was scarier than the Eclipse Cannon. "Those who want Vi to take care of the invitation say 'aye."

Needless to say, everyone answered positively. Vicini growled menacingly from his seat, but the hammer Amy was casually holding loosely with one hand dissuaded him from reaching towards the azure hedgehog and taking his head off.

Besides, Sonic was suffering enough with the adoring looks the pink female was sending his way.


	13. Scarlet Eyes Make A Smily Face

**I finally got a Wolf Spider. I was so happy!**

 **Then it tried climbing up my arm. I tried to get it off, but it fell on my lap and decided to take a hike towards my face.**

 **Why hello there, arachnophobia.**

* * *

 _Why is it always me who does the dirty work..._

The poor, unfortunate orange hedgehog sighed as he looked around helplessly in search of the stupid little altar with a stone and echidna on top. Vicini felt like banging his head against a tree repeatedly until he passed out from brain damage. Angel Island really needed a fucking map placed on every overgrown tree, rock and bush. It was the millionth time he got lost inside this oversized hunk of junk, and those defeats were almost too much for his pride to bear.

If he got lost one more time, not only would his dignity be reduced to a wringing pile of ashes, but this stupidly large island was going to join the farewell party.

The apricot hedgehog silently fumed as he stumbled over a large twisted root. Vicini growled, quills bristling, sapphire eyes darkening as the apricot immortal contemplated on burning the entire forest to the ground. One less mass of leaves wouldn't make a difference, right? _Tell that to the tree hugging-echidna._ A small voice pipped in and the Element Spirit agreed without any more thoughts.

Shaking his head, the humanoid decided to break into a sprint, giving a wide berth the large trees, jumping over oversized bushes and those blasted _blasted_ roots that seemed to burst out of the ground just to annoy him. His speed wasn't that impressive compared to Sonic's -until he decided to turn himself into a flaming comet, which he was never allowed to do indoors...or near something that was flammable, which was pretty much everything- but it was fast enough to rival a common car, which was god-like by human standards.

Gathering energy for another teleportation, Vicini let it out as a beautiful, blinding display of bright orange light. He was gone in a second, warping to another part of the floating island; one he expected to be the Master Emerald's altar, and with enough luck, where the loud, stubborn-minded echidna currently dwelled.

What Vicini didn't expect to happen was that he teleported right besides the emerald's altar, and since he was running...well, physics decided to pay a visit, making him colliding face first into hard stone.

His shrill cry echoed loudly across the island, probably loud enough to be heard by those who dwelled down on Mobius' surface. Vicini whined to himself, ears flattening as he stumbled away from the stone wall. To ease the pain he tried rubbing his bruised nose, but it didn't go away. He hated this. A hedgehog's nose was a very precious and very sensitive sense, damn it! Why did he model his humanoid form after that specie again? No clue.

"Son of a-!" Vicini had barely begun his rant against basically, at all existence, but sadly he could only begin the rant -starting with Lightos, then Chaos and then whatever else came to mind- when a large hand suddenly grabbed him by his head and brutally smashed his face -his poor, poor nose- against the same wall the sensitive limb just had a intimate relationship.

Yelling out in shock at the sudden attack, the orange spirit struggled against his captor to turn his head around, wincing as the crimson-furred echidna slammed his skull against the wall with more force. The old, jagged marble structure scratched the skin around his snout and ruffled his fur.

Oh, he just hated the world.

"Who are you? How did you get up here!?"

Knuckles was with his usual habit of protecting the Master Emerald with his life while beating the life out of the intruders. The echidna had tackled the apricot hedgehog to the ground the moment he had sighted the intruder. The red pelted male hadn't even bothered to attempt to identify the so-called thief.

Typical.

Sadly for Knuckles, Vicini wasn't in the mood for this kind of bullshit.

It took a minimum amount of Ether to set himself on fire.

"What in Chaos' name-"

In a nutshell, it didn't take long to force the echidna to go to their little reunion. The fact that Vicini was still on fire when he asked the Guardian to join them was completely inconsequential.

xxxxxxxx

Chris hated writing notes.

Unfortunately for him, sleeping through more than half of the semester wasn't exactly approved by the teachers. The bumbling fools often exclaimed that he was required to do it due to the fact he could need the notes in case he forgot something, to which Chris responded that his brain swallowed information like a sponge in such a way notes were almost useless. And let's not forget the tiny fact that he already knew most of the material before even starting his college studies.

Simply put, the notes he took were there just to be pretty. They weren't obligated to be there at school.

But he was.

So it was a bit of a understatement when he got angry at a sheepish Vicini, who had randomly teleported into the classroom, tackled him to the ground before warping away with him in tow. And only then did the midget ask him to go to their little picnic.

Needless to say, he was very satisfied of the bruise on the Spirit's forehead. The fire imp was not, but with the glares Chris was sending his way he wasn't about to open his mouth and invoke the human's wrath once more. So in a flash of light, Christopher Thorndyke was back in his class, writing down the teacher' notes while pointedly trying to ignore the shocked gaze of his fellow classmates.

Hey, if they were going to be his classmates, they had to realize this level of bullshit came with it.

 _(He wondered how long would it take for the campus director to throw him out on his ass.)_

xxxxxxx

Shadow hated GUN with every fiber of his being.

He knew he had enrolled to keep his promise to Maria, but damn this organization was pushing his buttons.

His newest reason to hate the Guardians of the United Nations? Fucking paperwork. The Ultimate Lifeform swore he had to do a report every time he did some something. Why did he need to file an explanation on why he used his gun? So what if he fiddled around with it while in full view of a particularly nasty agent who thought he was nothing more than a animal? And what if he had nearly clipped the hapless brat's nose with a bullet?

It was a complete accident the gun had gone off. Saying otherwise was inconsequential and inconsistent to what had happened.

What was also inconceivably important was how he accidentally punched Vicini in the nose when the Element Spirit teleported inside the GUN base and set off a first class intruder alarm as he did so, awakening the entire population of the compound and making the plebian fools that made up the GUN council think they were being the victims of an alien invasion.

xxxxxxxx

The island was just like he remembered it to be. Sonic smiled as he darted around, examining his surrounding and admiring it, taking in the sight of the thousands of flowers covering the small island like a carpet.

Helen sat besides him, a soft smile on her lips as she watched her longtime friend admire the scenery. Not too far from them, down the slope at the edge of the island, Chris and Cream were buzzing around, Cheese hovering above the rabbit's shoulder, helping Ella and Tanaka prepare the food they had brought. Tails was setting up a second table, tools spread around him and a metaphorical question mark above his head as he struggled with building the furniture. Chuck was standing by a tree, munching on the hard-won sandwich he had managed to snatch from the table when the fearsome woman wasn't looking.

The man was one fearless person.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Helen murmured as she watched the scenery with adoration in her eyes. "The city tried to build a resort here...that didn't sit well with the community." She giggled. "I remember it so well. I've never seen Chris so fired up. He knows we love this island."

The Blue Blur smiled, knowing that the young girl was referring to the numerous times the azure hedgehog snuck here for some peace and quiet. Sonic often brought her along, so if one needed to find Helen, and couldn't find her anywhere, they had to search here.

"Can someone help me?!" The moment was broken by a young fox struggling under the weight of a piece of the second table. Sonic was quick to dash over and lift the piece of furniture.

"Need a hand?"

The kit smiled up at him gratefully. "Thanks." He looked down at the leg the sapphire hero was holding. "It shouldn't be so hard to assemble! Give me a moment." The two-tailed boy looked over the construction. Sonic was pretty sure his brother had put one of the legs the wrong way. "Chuck! Give me a hand with this!" The cry was desperate. If the table was alive, it would be foaming at the mouth, sporting twitching legs and wailing pathetically as it pathetically tried to crawl into the lake to drown itself.

The wonders of IKEA.

"You can build a supercomputer before you hit puberty but you can't even make a table." The old man chuckled as he approached them, smirk growing wide at the sharp glare the restless fox gave him. The Blue Blur was still holding the heavy wooden leg, a bored expression on his face as he tried to block his friends' conversation out. "See, it's like this..."

At that moment Sonic decided to tune them out, occasionally moving some pieces when they asked him. He was _bored_. Yeah, the level of bored when one allowed themselves to become a pack mule. The young hedgehog knew when the rest of his friends would arrive -especially Amy- everything would go to hell in a basket, but until then he was forced to do grunt work.

"Sonic, can you pass me that tool next to you?"

 _"Tool."_

 _He looked up from his spot at his Master's feet. The man was watching him, glowing kaleidoscope eyes shimmering with different hues of red, purple and white._

 _"Get me Emma's report."_

 _The young hedgehog quietly rose from his seat on the expensive carpet and went for the massive desk that took up the middle of the study. Taking a moment to stare and scan at the pile of documents with as much speed and efficiency as he could muster, he snatched up the right papers and walked back to the large, dark leather couch where his Master was stretched out, lazily reading a shipment contract._

 _The light of the fireplace made gave the furniture a more sinister look, and he took a moment to stare at his Master's face. The elegant edges, high and aristocratic and the soft unblemished were accentuated by the flames of the fire. His dark hair, smooth like the most priceless silk and carefully brushed back. His unnatural eyes shone eerily in the darkness, calm and collected._

 _He gave his Master the much needed documents. He tried to sit back down on his knees next to the couch, but he saw Master gesture the couch. He obediently climbed on, curling up on the man's lap like a pet. His head leaned back on the human's chest, quills soft and spongy. Silence reigned in the room as he stared at the fireplace, his ears occasionally twitching at the sound of paper being shuffled around._

 _"You were faster last time."_

 _He could feel his Master's hand on his left ear once more, scratching him like one would do to a loyal pet. It was more to his Master's comfort than his own, who liked the sensation of the fur against his calloused skin. The young Holder didn't care however._

 _He realized that, in a way, he was a pet._

 _"It seems you need yet another conditioning. Your recognition skills need some work."_

 _But his empty conscience didn't mind one bit._

"Sonic?!"

The sharp cry was the equivalent of being smacked across the face with heated metal. The said blue hedgehog blinked, once, twice, before looking over at the source of the disturbance.

Tails was staring at him like he had grown a second head...

...before his eyes lowered and looked at his hands with a hint of fear in his eyes.

He didn't need the cold feeling at the tip of his fingers to know why that part of his anatomy was being stared at. Snarling, he turned away from both Chuck and his brother, cradling his crystallized limbs against his chest. Damn. Damn. He had been doing well when he was at the Ether, why was it happening now of all times?

Why was it happening in the first place?!

"Sonic?" He glanced back, just for a moment, and caught a glimpse of the two-tailed fox reaching out for him, while the helpless and worried eyes of friends gazing into his own. In between the mesh of blue, green and brown he could see the bright, knowing sapphire of Vicini's eyes.

To hell with all of this.

A small, slim hand settled on his left shoulder and he almost flinched, the ghostly feels of the dainty, graceful hand that had belonged to Tybalt almost making him turn around and attack whoever dared lay a hand on him. Turning his head to the left, he stared into the wide blue eyes of Helen.

There was no pity in them. His friends' eyes radiated reassurance and comfort, but there was no sadness or sympathy in them. The sight eased his nerves.

At least one person thought he could handle himself.

 _(Liar.)_

"Is everything alright...?" He ignored the voice -Chris'- and took a deep breath in desperate attempt to calm himself. His ears twitched, the flicks of the triangular appendages and the wandering green eyes that refused to make contact with the other's being the only signs of his internal conflict.

Turning back around, darkened green orbs slowly opened and he gazed at his friends in silence. He could feel their eyes on his hands, sounds of confusion and fear at the crunches and blood-curling flesh sounds as the crystal claws turned into organic matter. The skin and fur gradually grew back, covering the nerves, ligaments and bone, and finally, nails grew. Sharp, but not as much as the knife-like ornaments that had taken their place.

He could feel their stares. Sonic cradled his regenerating limbs closer as if the sight of them would cause his friends to drop dead. Or run off screaming. The later was more likely. Last time they had seen it he nearly took off Knuckles' head just because he had stood in his way when he tried to cut down Rouge for making a noise. Not that they knew the reason, but from what he obtained from their explanations gave him a picture of why his defense mechanism had acted as such.

The Holder heard a noise behind him, the constant shriek of a phone making his ears flick. The azure male glanced back, letting his hands drop to his sides now that they weren't ugly and transparent and- a soft sigh tumbled out of his lips. He received a gentle squeeze of his shoulder from Helen in return.

His ears picked up a conversation between a certain blond and whoever was on the phone, but he didn't register the words or turned around, not until his name was called.

"Sonic." Chris was standing there, looking fearful and annoyed at the same time -a strange combination- as he held a phone tightly pressed against his ear. The teenager's blue eyes were dark and foreboding. The boy snapped the device shut and stuffed it in his pants. "We are having a small problem."

Sonic closed his eyes for a brief moment and took a deep breath, the memory of the fancy study slowly fading away. He didn't need this. Not right now. "What is it?" He asked, only to frown at the croak that came out. His throat felt dry...swallowing, he ignored the concerned looks both Helen, Tails and Chris gave him.

He didn't need their pity.

Or anyone's for that matter.

"Eggman decided it was time he checked the downtown shops for the best prices on hardware." A slow snarl formed on the young speedster's lips at Chris' announcement, ignoring how the paraplegic teenager at his side gasped in both concern for the people caught in the attack and surprise at the appearance of the scientist so soon after his defeat.

If he had the heart to do so, Sonic would have smiled. Finally there was a way for him to let all the tension go. The fat, egg-shaped human was in for a surprise this time.

"Stay here." Noticing the uncomfortable expression on the blond's face, Sonic added in a lighter, brighter tone, an afterthought meant to reassure his friends. "I'll deal with him, don't worry! Continue with the gathering, alright?" Helen smiled, letting go of his shoulder. He felt his heart warm with gratitude. The girl, like Tails or Cream, had always made him feel better even in the worst of situations. They...well, they just had this kind of innocence around them that calmed his wrathful, conflicted self.

 _(He molded you to be like this.)_

Turning away the azure speedster reached out with his mind through the link of the tenant and the mentor. His conscience poked against another, who stilled for a moment, both mentally and physically, before poking back.

By the time the other answered, he was already running over the lake surrounding the island, his speed the only thing keeping him above the cold, dark waters. Not as fast as he could go, but enough to carry him towards his destination. Going at the speed of sound was suicide if it wasn't in a secluded grassland or highway, both to himself and the people around him.

The answer was wasn't instantaneous. Unknown to him, the Element Spirit of Energy looked at the ground, fidgeting uncomfortably, hands fiddling with the utensils and bright paper Amy was using to decorate the table.

What?

The fire sprite's answer wasn't quick, yet it felt as if it was said in a rush. Sonic had been with his teacher long enough however to know how the other worked. Their partnership had, after all, existed from before his mind had been wiped clean of his memories, and he had only reclaimed them two years ago.

You're my backup.

...alright.

xxxxxxxx

A blur of cobalt darted through the heavy traffic of Station Square, occasionally using the sidewalk when the card became to numerous. He gave a wide berth to stands, taking care to not blow their newspapers and other magazines away. After all, Sonic the Hedgehog wasn't Superman. He didn't scatter a person's hard work for the giggles, not matter how amusing it was. That was Shadow's job.

Except Chris, and that was because it was hilarious...even if he received a screwdriver to the face for it. Speaking of the said boy, he hadn't given him the exact location of where Eggman decided to strike.

Then again, he only needed to follow the screams.

The blue male winced as a particularly shrill cry assaulted his ears, loud even if he had yet to see a robot. He ran up a short skyscraper, wanting to obtain a vantage point for him to evaluate the situation. The sight that greeted him wasn't pretty.

Merely two blocks from his right he could see dust flying around and from within it he would occasionally glimpse something large, metallic and blue moving within it.

There were, of course, the familiar standard Eggbots running around as well, rushing into stores and coming out with their grubby arms filled with various metal objects, ranging from frying pans to car pieces.

Sonic recognized what was happening. While the fat, egg-shaped human could obtain his much-needed metal from natural resources, he would also steal some from the general population, let it be by raiding a factory, taking a shipment of goods, or do it the old fashioned way, in which he seemed to prefer. The Holder knew the scientist well enough that he knew the man would never pass up a opportunity to strike fear into the hearts of the population, all while testing new machinery.

Sonic sighed. He disliked this kind of attacks. They were one of the most common and annoying of the lot.

Further musing was prevented when a Eggbots noticed him and let out a loud, metallic alarm that blared through the streets over the screams and crashes that usually came with one of Eggman's raids. Great.

Oh well. He would be making a better entrance than he thought he would.

The nearest robot could only let out a pathetic, ear-splitting shriek before the sole of it's attacker shoe hit it in the face, the blow causing the metal to cave in. The other machines let out a series of metallic beets as Sonic leaped off the falling robot, using the destroyed minion as a launching pad from where he threw himself at the rest of the machines.

Eggbots fell left and right, their sensors unable to keep up with the Blue Blur's speed, therefor leaving them defenseless. Sonic tore through them mercilessly, mostly kicking them in the skull where he knew the servos were, but that didn't mean he had a bit of fun. Darting in between the machines, he was pleased to see them frantically shooting after his blurred form, only to damage each other in their frenzy to get to him.

With most of the robots out of the way, he turned to the largest one.

It loomed over him menacingly, the sharp blades it had for legs stabbing into the ground. It looked like charging at the limbs was out of the question, that is unless he wanted to be sliced in half. Robotnick's newest machine looked vaguely like a massive, dark purple scorpion, but instead of pincers it's face was shaped into a mocking, grinning one that looked vaguely humanoid. Alright. That was unsettling. Creepy points had be given for that. He let his eyes wander away from the sharp-toothed smile and on the orb on the thing's back. The tail was high above his head and shaped like a bladed hammer. Alright, that was a part of the machine he wanted to stay away from. Even from ground level he could see the fat, mustached human known as Doctor Eggman.

The said egg shaped scientist was grinning down at him victoriously, as if he had already won. The sight nearly made his eyes roll. As if.

"Behold my newest creation, the Eggpion!" The man bellowed, arms in the air and a maniacal smirk on his lips. The massive construct lashed, the tail flailing around, knocking down half of the upper floor of a nearby building. Sonic winced internally. That would take a while to fix. "This is the pinnacle of technology that will finally defeat -why are you staring!?" The crazed scientist suddenly thundered, noticing the blank expression

"I thought last week with the Eggterelle was bad enough, it seems you proved _me_ wrong."

"What?! Those are perfectly respectable names!"

"I would have gone with the simpler ones, like Egg Scorpion, but nope!" The azure hero let the word drag out, enjoying the twitching eyebrow his opponent was sporting. "You always have to screw it up, even the names...and what's with the face on it? It looks like it's on a sugar high." Sonic avoided to add that it was terrifying and incredibly unnerving. If he did so the fat human would be tempted to put it on all of his creations, and that was a big no-no for him. "When you said you were losing brain cells while I was gone I didn't think it would be so literal!"

"Why you...!" The Eggpion darted forwards, legs aimed at the blue hedgehog, but the said hero was gone moments before the bladed limbs hit the spot where he had been standing.

"No need to be so grumpy! Sheesh, did Bokkun slip you decaf coffee this morning?" Sonic shouted from the top of a nearby building, looking down at the robot with the unsettling smile. Urgh. He barely restrained a shiver.

Yeah, that face was the first thing that was going to go boom.

"Shut up, you miserable rat!"

The tail lashed out, slamming down at him. Sonic dodged quickly enough, and began darting around the legs in search of a weak point, much to his opponent's annoyance. The human grasped the controllers tightly, and the fake scorpion reared up on it's hind legs. To add to the image, the front blades beginning to spin, nearly drawing out a wince from the Holder. Alright, legs and tail were out. What else could he try...?

He leaped back as the tail tried to turn him into a pancake for a second time, and ran up the side of a nearby building once more. The Blue Blur gauged the distance between the massive battle robot and his current perch, before leaping forwards and landing on top of the thing's disturbing face.

"H-Hey! Get off, rat!" Sonic nearly smirked at the panicked shout coming from above, pulling an arm back as if he was going to punch the smirking, toothy,unsettling grin of the robot. _I promised this is the first thing that was going to go boom._

Jade eyes began to glow, their edges gaining vibrant specks of numerous other color. _"Ether Claw."_ He muttered, watching as his raised hand began to melt into the kaleidoscope sludge his body turned into moments before hardening, forming three long, sharp claws, with a thumb that was half the size as it's brethren, but just as sharp. The Blue Blur brought it down the robot's head, the serrated digits shredding through the metallic face with minimal effort.

Ignoring Eggman's infuriated cry, he pushed against the destroyed grinning face with his powerful legs and leaped away. A bladed leg tried to skewer the young hero, but he avoided it with ease by curling into a ball and dashing down it's side to the cracked asphalt road.

Distancing himself from the scorpion-sequel creature, Sonic surveilled the fruits of his attack. He grimaced at the sight. The Eggpion -Chaos the idiot scientist was running out of ideas- had three large marks running down it's face, twisting the metal into a more sadistic smile and to make matters worse, it seemed as if he broke a cooling pipe or something, because there was a clear substance flowing out between the teeth.

Sonic didn't know if he should do another attack or run for the hills.

Grabbing his courage with both hands, he chose the former.

Sprinting towards the machine's deformed face, he made a slight turn to the left to avoid one of the many blades the scorpion-like robot had for legs. The mace tails was suddenly aimed at his head and the Blue Blur rolled aside just in time to feel bits of shrapnel dig into his back, spots where his quills hadn't protected him. Sonic winced at the pain but his run didn't falter. Rather, he jumped forward with every bit of strength his legs had.

He began spinning in the air, his quills straightened, sharp as a blade and as resistant as steel. Sonic could feel himself tearing through the destroyed grinning face and into the mechanism of Eggman's newest creation. The sapphire hero couldn't help but grin to himself. Hopefully the obese scientist would take a few weeks off from attempting to take over the world to lick his wounds.

Then again, the human was pretty stubborn. One look at Eggman's lengthy list of attempts to kill him would tell you that.

Sonic felt his quills tear through a thick metal plating and suddenly there was fresh air. Uncurling from his signature attack, he landed on the ground in a crouched position, and turned around just in time to see the massive scorpion-like machine fall over, defeated.

The speedster looked around for signs of Eggman, and barely glimpsed the human's favorite aircraft disappear behind the corner of a small skyscraper. Huh. No screamed death curses? Interesting. The man was getting quicker with his escapades.

"Doesn't seem like you need any backup."

"A precaution, Vi." He didn't need to turn to know who it was. The cool, familiar biting cold of Ether was gently rubbing against his back, stirring his own energy. The Life Plates buzzed in his chest, excited by being close to one of it's many shards. He took a deep breath and let his own reserves flow within him, soothing cold and familiar, rubbing against the Plates and soothing them back to their dormant state. "You know, you could have stepped in." He turned around, giving the Element Spirit a annoyed glance. "It would have made things quicker!"

The immortal shrugged nonchalantly, his two quills bouncing behind him as his shoulders moved. "It would make it less fun for you." The older of the two explained, smirking playfully at his friend. "I know how much you love annoying that human."

"Hn." Sonic sighed, eyes closing as he shook his head softly. "Not today, though." If the quilled hero had kept his eyes open, he could have seen his guardian's sapphire ones darken.

"The memories are really bothering you, aren't they?" When Vicini spoke again, the tone was soft and careful. Pitying. Sonic hated it. He also hated being seen as weak. He wasn't made of glass, Chaos damn it!

Jade eyes snapped open, stormy and foreboding. He looked down at the ground, not wanting to cross gaze with his fellow Ether-wielder. The asphalt was cracked and covered with small specks of melted metal, debris from the shrapnel that had exploded out of Eggman's machine after he had tore through it with his spindash. Nothing but stone and heartless metal.

 _He cried out, curling closer to the corner of the room. The wall was biting cold, made of metal like most of the furniture. Cold and lifeless...like the machine in the middle of the room, which was the source of the current argument. He knew he was being childish, but he was seven. He was allowed a bit of freedom for once..._

 _...even if it was as fleeting as a butterfly._

 _He hated it. He knew he needed to be in the machine at least once a month due to medical reasons, but he hated when the helmet's pointy-things stabbed into the back of his head, and the thing covering his spine burned like if it was liquid fire._

 _"Be reasonable, child!" He heard Emma cry from the sidelines. He couldn't see her. The young boy closed his eyes, blocking out the tall figure looming over him._

 _"No! I don't want to!"_

 _Silence. It took him a moment to realize what he just said..._

 _...what he dared to say._

 _"Boy." He flinched. The tone was as hard and cold as the man's soul. "You will do as I say, child." He felt the human kneel next to him. The young hedgehog shivered. Nononono. He didn't want this. He didn't want this!_

 _Warm hands cupped his face, making his cry harder. He could feel the man's breath brushing against his forehead. He didn't resist, knowing it would prove fruitless. Why? Why him?! Against his will, he found himself staring into the red kaleidoscope eyes of the man he feared above all else._

 _The only thing he could feel afterwards was emptiness._

 _Master was there. Master was giving orders to him. Listening to orders. Acting upon orders. Keys. Master gave command. Machine. Had to go to inside machine. His limbs moved with his consent. His mind was filled with only one thought, one purpose. Serve the master._

 _Serve Tybalt._

 _"Sir! This isn't necessary!"_

 _He felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he was greeted by the sight of bright kaleidoscope eyes of varying shades of green and yellow. Blinking, he stared up at the woman. Something scratched at his mind. He knew her. Somehow, he knew her, but his mind, as clear and precise for the weapon he needed to be couldn't figure out where he had seen her._

 _"There is no need to fret. Think of it as a small test, Emma."_

 _The woman was looking at Master. Disgust. Anger. Hatred. He could see it hidden in those glowing eyes directed towards Master. Why was she angry? She was supposed to be like him. She wasn't supposed to go against the master. Why was she acting this way?_

 _"You did plenty of tests on him when you got those eyes, Master." The term was spat out with hatred. He stared at her, judging the distance between Tybalt and her in case she became aggressive. How much strength he would have to put in his jump to be able to make her throat cave in with a punch...or be cleaner and sever her head. Maybe snapping her neck would be safer?_

 _Master took good care of them, why should she refuse him?_

 _He felt Tybalt pull him to his side. He could feel the man's restlessness. The mobian child curled closer, pressing his nose against the human's hand in a attempt to comfort him. The limb moved, making him flinch._

 _If he could, he would smile at the feel of the hand traveling through the silky fur on his head. In no time did he recognize Tybalt was patting his head like a master would to his dog._

 _He looked up at his Master, perplexed. The man glanced down at him._

 _He swore he could see blank, ruby red orbs staring at him, reflected by the human's unnaturally beautiful kaleidoscope eyes._

"You just had another one, didn't you?"

"No." Sonic didn't like the accusing tone, eyes dark as he forced his mind to dispel the vile memory. "I haven't had one since this morning."

"I call bullshit on that." The Element Spirit stepped closer, looming over him, pinning him in place with a glare. "I'm your Guardian. I can feel the echoes of your flashbacks through our link." Sonic looked away, refusing to cross his gaze with the immortal spirit's. The childish action made Vicini sigh.

Then again, he didn't have much free time as a child.

"...you know, we can go see Amu or Maika about this. Even Lightos if it's serious enough-"

"No!" Sonic whirled around to meet his gaze, eyes burning with rightful fury and apprehension. Was that a hint of fear? Knowing the subject, Vicini guessed it was. "Don't you dare tell Lightos about it! She can't know I'm having another relapse!"

"So you're going to lie to your own mother?"

That made the blue hedgehog hesitate. "...she's my foster mother." He muttered, more to himself than the other male. The Spirit of Energy watched as the blue speedster bit his lower lip and looked down, ears flicking, caught in a internal debate. He could feel it through their links, even if it was dampened by the Blue Blur's desire to shy away from him. Nevertheless, he was his Guardian. There was little Sonic could hide from him.

But when they spoke about _this_...things tended to go sour between them.

"Let's start with something simpler." The green-eyed make blinked at him owlishly. "Your friends." Jade eyes darkened, but nevertheless Vicini continued. "You can trust them, idiot. They're your friends. They stood by your side through thick and thin." The apricot fire-wielder's eyes were dark, his face uncharacteristically serious. Sonic hated it. "Don't let their sacrifices go to waste. Remember the shit we went through when the twins got you to the Temple?! Maika had to send you into a induced coma to fix some of what that fucker did because apparently even the most skilled of us could not repair everything, and half of the Spirits suffered from feedback."

The Element spirit snarled, walking forwards until he loomed over the Holder. Sonic cringed, trying to look away, but the intensity of the sapphire orbs made it impossible. He could feel the rage, concern and helplessness radiating from the other side of the link. "I had to stop Flamos from tearing your head off more than once when you were asleep, because apparently my _father_ thinks violence can solve everything, and don't get me started on the 'accidents' that happened occasionally."

The rant over the Element Spirit took a step back, allowing the other space. Sonic was smart enough to know that running away now that the orange male was more than an arm's length away would prove to be fruitless. Vicini would catch him, tie him up and drag him to the Temple, kicking and screaming.

And then Lightos would find out, and he wouldn't hear the end of it.

"But you know how he will react if he finds out."

"So?!" Vicini rumbled, his growl sounding like the crackle of a fierce fire. "Grow a brain, damn it! I'm tired of this!"

Sonic sighed, sounding defeated. "I'll find a way to make these flashbacks end." Vicini opened his mouth to cheer at the news, but his charge's eyes flashed iridescent, stopping him short. "...but I'm not telling them. It will do more harm than good."

"For the love of-"

"No!" The tired speedster shouted, eyes blazing with panic, making the other reel back in shock. "It's my decision, Vicini!" He thought he saw a hint of other colors in the Blue Blur's eyes, and recoiled, raising his hands in a show of peace. He didn't want to mess with the azure's defense mechanism, not when he had yet to learn how to prevent it from activating.

The Element Spirit sighed. He knew when to argue, and when he was defeated.

"Alright. You win for now."

* * *

 **There are two Easter Eggs in the chapter. One from a Anime that we all know and love (probably), one from a movie series that just hit the cinemas for a fourth time.** **Find them. I dare you, and you'll get a Chibi Sonic as a reward :D**

 **I'm going to leave clues about what exactly happened to Sonic when he was younger, but no promises until the next season. Sorry dear readers. Also, I combined three chapters into this one cuz I felt like it, and none of em' ended the way I wanted.**

 **Hehehe, fingers have no muscles. It's all ligament power! Fun fact, right?**

 ***wiggle fingers***

 _ **Crack.**_

 **Ow.**


	14. The Tree that Felled

"Watch the -ooow!"

"Stand still!"

"Are you _trying_ to kill me!?"

"Sonic, squirming is going to make things worse!"

"How can it be worse? _It's already worse!_ She's _stabbing_ me with a **knife**!"

"Those are pincers, you dumb hog! Do you want the shrapnel removed or not!?"

"I'm starting to think that-"

 _Smack!_

A low whimper came out of Sonic, and the azure hero looked up at him with pleading eyes. Chris however was well versed in the arts of Trying To Run Away from the many, many time he had to hold the hedgehog down and prevent him from escaping when it was time to take out the aid kit, so his glare darkened as he loomed over the Blue Blur, who defiantly glared back when he realized begging with the doe eyes wasn't going to do the trick.

Amy and Helen were at hard work, determined to get rid of all the metal and stone fragments embedded in the speedster's back. Sonic was sitting on a fallen log, held by a wrist by a scowling Chris in case he tried to make a desperate run for it. Vicini was close by, just in case if the squirming hedgehog managed to escape the teenager's iron grip.

 _He wasn't kidding when he said he had been training._ Sonic pouted, remembering when the teenager had bragged about his rigorous training when they had been chasing after the Metarex, only for his hard work to fall short as the teenager realized since he had shrunk into a kid; therefor his hard-won muscles and years of reflexes had become nonexistent.

Good thing Tails didn't pack any alcohol in the Blue Typhoon, otherwise the human would have drank every bottle available up faster than _he_ could eat chilidogs.

The azure hero let out a small rumble, irate at the fact that he was unable to do much other than glare at his captor. He did his best to not squirm too much, but the metallic pincer slowly cleaning his wounds stung harshly, and the way they skillfully wove through the razor sharp quills on his head and the few on his back made him feel uncomfortable and strangely vulnerable. Then again, a hedgehog's quills were his best defense, so it was instinctive for him to do so.

He glanced at the rest of his friends, the ones that weren't watching him like a hawk or digging a pair of sharp stick into his flesh. Rouge and Shadow had arrived while he was out taking care of a certain egghead, with Topaz in tow. The light-haired woman was busy chatting with Tanaka, occasionally throwing Rouge annoyed looks as the bat hovered close to a fuming Knuckles, clearly intent on irritating the scarlet echidna to the point the Guardian went into a mindless rampage. Shadow strayed from the group by sitting at the base of a tree, silent and brooding as usual as he contemplated the mysteries of the universe or something similar. He would sometimes glance at Sonic and smirk each time the azure hedgehog winced when another piece of shrapnel was removed.

 _Bastard_. Sonic hissed to himself, wanting to cross his arms but unable to with the death grip Chris had on his wrist. His quills bristled, and he received a harsh poke in one of his wounds in return. "Oi! Watch what you're doing!"

"Huh. Maybe next time you'll be more careful!"

"Like that's going to happen." Knuckles drawled from a nearby tree, having imitated Shadow by standing away from the rest of them and leaning against the bark of a old willow tree, eyes closed as he tried to block out the world. "That idiot runs straight into danger; each time he fight he at least gets a cut or two!"

Sonic almost pouted. He was more than irritated. _Mean Knux. If this keeps up I'm revoking your best friend privileges_. The cobalt hedgehog lifted an arm and aimed his hand towards the guardian of the Master Emerald, all while ignoring the warning glances Chris shot his way. Pressing the tips of his thumb and index together, he took a small breath and let energy flow into his hand. Shadow, being extremely sensitive to his surroundings, seemed to have noticed the sudden influx of Ether energy and was examining the blue hero with questioning eyes, wondering what he was up to now.

The Blue Blur parted his fingers slowly, concentrating on gathering a very small amount of the familiar cold. A tiny orb of iridescent light formed and with a flick of his wrist, it tore towards an unaware Knuckles.

"Gah!" The miniature sphere slammed into one of his shoulders and burning a minuscule patch of fur. Knuckles leaped forward as if someone had lit a fire under him. "What the hell was that!?" The echidna raged, furious amethyst eyes scanning the small group of people, before settling on Sonic, who's arm was still raised and his expression was one of a very large, victorious smirk. Which promptly dropped as the young hero realized the angry Guardian glaring at him.

...as well as walking towards him, hands curling into fists.

This wasn't going to end well. "Err...Knuckles?" Sonic rose from his seat and began walking backwards, hands raised in defeat. The triangular blue ears were folded flat against his head, and his quills were bristling. Amy and Helen, having finished their job, were quick to grab their equipment and rush to help Ella, all while trying to hide the amused grins on their lips. "You wouldn't hurt a poor innocent soul, would you?"

Knuckles paused, thoughtful, but then his eyes sharpened when he noticed Sonic was starting to smile again. He balled his hands tighter, raising them threateningly in front of him, displaying the sharp spikes that made his namesake.

Sonic didn't even try to defend himself.

He turned around and began running. Unfortunately for Sonic, he had forgotten a very important detail of the geography of his surroundings.

Simply put, he was on a island.

Ergo, trying to run away from Knuckles wasn't going to work very well.

Finding no way to escape -of course he had to pick an island for a picnic, lucky him- the speedster ended his vain attempts to get to the mainland in favor of running up a nearby tree and settled on top of it. Sonic watching with wary eyes as Knuckles stalked around the base; the only reason the echidna hadn't knocked the tree down with a punch -and wasn't throttling him- was due to the Guardian's profound respect for nature. His saving grace, it seemed.

Sonic made a note to remember to kiss the tree trunk when he got down.

"It was worth it, it was worth it..." Sonic mumbled under his breath as he gripped the branch as if his life depended on it. He was so in for it. The echidna was going to break his back in two. Maybe next time he'll dump water on him while he's sleeping and get the hell out of dodge before he realizes what is happening. Yeah, that would work far better than openly antagonizing the Guardian of the Master Emerald. Knuckles had a mean punch when he didn't hold back.

"Are you coming down soon?"

"Sure!" Sonic chirped in a awfully sarcastic tone. "Next weekend. Maybe."

The echidna crossed his arms, staring up at him in a way the precariously perched hedgehog certainly did not like. "You asked for it." Knuckles smirked, his purple eyes shining with amusement. Moments later he raised a eyebrow as Sonic let out a low hissing sound, quills bristling, not unlike an agitated snake. "Amy! It seems like Sonic prefers staying up in his tree, rather than spending this absolutely lovely picnic with us!"

Knuckles found the way the jade eyes widened priceless.

Sonic was certainly not amused. Moments later, the blue hedgehog was experiencing the beautiful sensation that was falling to his doom as a flying hammer smacked him clear off the tree.

This wasn't worth it.

xxxxxxxx

"You are going to behave now, aren't you?" Vicini drawled, staring down at the bruised hedgehog with a stern, reprimanding gaze. He was standing over his charge's battered self, arms crossed and eyes hard. Sonic merely whimpered, the sound low and weak with the mouthful of dirt he had eaten.

Having stayed at the poor hero's side after Amy grew tired of using him as a practice dummy, Chris kneeled down and poked the blue hedgehog on the side. Sonic let out a small, dramatic wail. "It's not that bad!" The human commented, examining his friend for serious damage. Thankfully, there was none, besides a couple of ugly bruises and a few pulled quills.

"She tried to break my neck." Sonic whined from his spot on the ground, looking more pitiful than he should be.

"It was a _hug_."

"I felt my neck _snap_."

"You wouldn't be alive if it did that. Besides, Amy wanted to punish you, not kill you." Chris' dead flat tone didn't help much.

"Oh joy." The speedster shot him a dry look, unimpressed by the sarcasm in the human's voice. "Someone should get her some psychology books." The Blue Blur paused, frowning. "Actually, dump her in a asylum and I'll be happy."

Chris rolled his eyes. Exaggerations, as always. "Too bad, your happiness is not important."

"Then what is?"

The whining was getting irritating. "Keeping you alive, for starters." Chris explained with a flat voice, a small tick starting to develop his left eye. Sonic huffed, crossing his arms, a muttered grow emerging from his lips. It was at that the human had enough of the speedster's shenanigans. "I give up!" The youngest Thorndyke threw his hands in the air. "Stop acting like a child! How old are you?" Sonic gave him a small glare at his question, before briskly walking away.

Chris was in a lost. He hadn't expected the Blue Blur to react like that. Ignore him, yes, but flat out walk away? It was unusual behavior. "What did he do?" The human sighed, more to himself than the apricot sprice standing at his side. He had a feeling he'll never understand that hedgehog.

"Shouldn't have done that." Vicini commented, sipping on his drink. Orange juice. Figures. "He's sensitive with his age."

"Why?"

"It has something to do with the fact that the Life Plates have more or less stuffed his growth hormones into the freezer."

"Huh..." Chris frowned. When he thought about it, Sonic's looks hadn't changed much since he returned from the Ether -and time flowed faster there- or when he had emerged from the Master Emerald, just before the beginning of the Metarex war. The azure hedgehog hadn't looked any different than he was today, minus a small growth of his quills. Strange. "That explains a few things." The teenager looked down at the Element Spirit. "If what you're saying is true, how old is he?"

"Well," Vicini started, but suddenly paused. He seemed to mull over his words, giving the human a small, secretive smile. "...he's older than you, that's for sure."

Chris didn't miss the way Sonic's posture relaxed, as if he had heard the Element Spirit from the other side of the clearing.

xxxxxxxx

He leaned back against the ground, watching the skies flow above him. The soft blue and the pale clouds was beautiful, but it had nothing on the Aether's. A breeze swept through the clearing, ruffling hair, clothes and fur. The Blue Blur's cobalt pelt was not a exception, and its owner made a small smile as he heard Ella shriek, the cold winds having knocked over a few of the many drinks lain out on the table.

The exhausted azure turned his attention back to the clouds above, his muscles mellow and relaxed. He wasn't done for the day, but he deserved a small break. _As great as the sky is, I've seen better._ Sonic chuckled to himself, realizing he was, in his own way, missing the time he had spend trapped inside the Aether dimension. Missing the massive auroral borealis, the trees filled with flowing leaves, the small spirits that scampered just out of his view and watching his back in case the Metarex Leader found him.

 _I feel like one big sap._

Then again, maybe he had grown rusty from the lack of sensible brains laying about and around. Vicini and Dark Oak hadn't been the best conversationalists.

"Sonic?"

His ears perked up as he heard footsteps come closer. Sonic blinked, realizing that a certain blond-red human was looming over him, looking nervous and sheepish. Huh. Was he coming here to apologize?

"I'm sorry."

Apparently so. Glad to see his deduction skills still worked. He gaze the taller male a small smile, showing he had been forgiven. "It's alright. It wasn't like you knew. I guess it's still a sore spot, even after so many years..." Sonic trailed off, uncertain. Chris took his time to flop down at his side.

"Is it indecent of me to ask?" The human wondered; he knew he was being a tad insensitive, but the curiosity was clawing at his insides, even more than the guilt he felt for making his friend remember something he obviously wanted to forget. He watched as the small blue hedgehog shrugged, emerald eyes darkening.

"I can't blame you for your curiosity." The Blue Blur paused, seemingly mulling over his words. "As for your question, well, it depends." He ignoring the questioning gaze that the human send his way. "I never knew the date of my birthday. After bugging me nonstop Tails decided that he would pick one for me at random...I'd say I'm in my forties, at the very least." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Dunno, I don't care much it!"

"Tails knows?"

"No." Sonic sighed. Thankfully. "It was before the Metarex war happened, even efore we hitched a ride on Chaos Control with the unexpected bus stop here." Chris snorted at the way the azure hero spoke of the terrifying experience that was ending up in another world. Typical. "He had theories that I could be immortal. He thought the high concentration of Chaos energy messed up my body. Before the whole Metarex shenanigans I didn't remember much about my past, and what I did I didn't seem any younger, so we thought it was true." The speedster smiled, eyes still on the skies above. A cat-like ear flickered, scaring away a mosquito that dared land on the triangular appendage. "Well, he was somewhat right."

"Smart as always, it seems." Sonic's only answer was a low hum. The hedgehog and the human settled into silence, staring up at the skies quietly, trying to see shapes in the ever changing clouds.

"Oh Sonikku!"

Oh Chaos, _get it the hell away._

That was that. Sonic was never going on a outing with her around. He glanced at his side. Just as he expected, Chris had vanished into the wind almost as fast as he could run. The Holder leap to his feet and looked around, noticing that the blasted traitor was all the way to the other side of the clearing, helping Cream and Cheese collect some flowers.

How the hell did Chris get there so fast was beyond him.

...adrenaline rush?

The glob of pink that was suddenly in his face nearly left him blind. "Can you come join us? I made delicious food; we can eat out of the same plate if you want!" The over-zealous female swooned, ignoring the way the cobalt hero's feet seemed to twitch with the need to carry their owner halfway across the globe. "Wouldn't that be romantic?"

She would have better luck asking Eggman for that. Oh wait. Sonic winced internally, almost wanting to rip his brain out at the insuring mental image. Ugh. Bad image. Very bad image. "No thank you." He muttered with a grimace as he mentally wrestled with his brain to erase the image. "I'll prefer to stay here, where there's no nutters." That last part was mumbled more to himself than the pink demon.

"What?!" The wrathful banshee cry echoed through the island, startling the local wildlife. Sonic shrunk back as the pink hedgehog loomed over him, emerald eyes alight with fire. He took a step away from the angered female, but saw no way of escaping her wrath. Stupid island. Why didn't they build a bridge while he was gone?! "Uh, listen Ames, I-"

The frantic apology he was about to say died as a familiar hammer slammed done on his face.

"Should we break them up?" For once, Vicini was genuinely worried for his charge. The crunch that followed even made the cold-hearted being that was Shadow cringe and look away.

Topaz let out a resounding laugh as she watched the chaos unfold, a glass of smoothie in her hand. "Nah!" She crackled, holding her drink closer. "This is quality show, right here!" She gestured the blue hedgehog valiantly trying to escape the female's wrath, only to fail miserably.

"And if you don't want a imprint the shape of a hammer on your head, I suggest letting Sonic take care of it." Tails added helpfully, face falling at the thought of the infamous red and yellow hammer. Oh Chaos, why the hell did he build the stupid thing? He felt like going back in time and slapping some sense into his past self. It would save so many headaches...

...as well as salves for the bruises. The many painful bruises.

 _ **CRASH.**_

"Huh." Amy paused, her hammer stilling as it was raised high above her head, her current, unfortunate victim slowly backing away from her, flinching and whimpering like a cowering dog. "That wasn't me."

"It's not you, Amy." Knuckles muttered as he looked past the two bickering hedgehogs and towards the forest surrounding the island. The scarlet echidna squinted at the objects that had grabbed his attention, only to growl angrily as he realized what he was seeing.

A familiar, small aircraft the shape of an egg was flying towards the island, followed by another object that was big, shiny and purple. With no doubt on his mind the Guardian of the Master Emerald knew it was war robot, and from the looks of things, it looked like a bird. From what he could gather, the source of the crash was the larger, bulkier machine accidentally knocking down a tree while it made it's way towards the island.

"Oh joy." Chris made a face; he wasn't the only one.

"Our favorite scientist is here again." Rouge muttered, unimpressed by the war robot coming their way.

"I thought Tails was our favorite scientist." Cream wondered with a airy, innocent voice, oblivious of the said fox blush up to his ears at the comment. From his spot on the ground, Sonic gave out a small giggle that was soon cut off by a pained groan as his bruised sides made themselves known.

Yeah, he was going to feel that for a least a few days.

The two machines came to a stop above the island, the smaller, rounder vehicle known as the Eggmobile barely peaking out from behind the massive, fearsome purple construct shaped like a feral bird. It's head and neck were vaguely similar to a vulture, with a sharp beak, oversized claws, and plane like wings. Were those rocket launchers? Oh yay, finally something interesting. He had had a lot of practice dodging them back in the Aether. Dark Oak had been especially fond of the explosive projectiles.

The appearance of the machine fell into the background however as Sonic realized something. When the mechanical vulture turned towards him, he blanched as he realized that hey there, creepy smiling face was back! How lovely. It wasn't like he needed to sleep this week! If he was determined enough, he could live on coffee and fear of creepy pasta nightmares for his entire life if he wanted to!

 _(Sometimes he just hated the Internet. He also hated Chris for introducing him to it.)_

"This is where it end!" Eggman laughed at them from his chair, the familiar black imp known as Bokkun perched on his left shoulder. His newest war robot stopped just below the round vehicle, acting as shield against the most volatile members of the group with it's giant wings spread wide, yellow eyes glimmering menacingly. "You'll never defeat me this time, rodent!" The scientist bent on world domination gave the group a victorious grin as the bird-like machine let out a warning growl. "Behold my Egg Vulture, powered by three Chaos Emeralds!" The man then crackled in a way that left many wondering he wasn't choking on his spit yet.

Sonic blinked, once, twice, before scowling. He waved his hands at the human as he hollered in a attempt to gain the man's attention, his quills bristling in anger and disbelief. "How the hell did you find three of em' in the first place?! Normally you can barely find one!"

"Hey! With my incredible genius nothing is impossible!" Eggman huffed, insulted, raising his head high and staring down at the furball with distaste. "Why, just look at my newest creation!"

"Did you steal from Tails again?"

More than one person choked.

"Just get it over with, Eggy." Sonic said with a small smirk appearing on his muzzle as he resumed a fighting stance. "You never win, so why try?" The azure hero taunted, his grin broadening at the man's insulted cry of rage.

"He's got a point there Doctor." Bokkun exclaimed with a chuckle, mocking his own creator as his right as a so ever helpful minion. The little imp earned a outraged glare from the plotting scientist for his troubles.

"You're supposed to be on my side!" Eggman raged, his face turning a ugly shade of bright red, one that wasn't all that different from the scarlet of a stop sign.

"I am!" Bokkun defended with a whine. "It's just that he's right; you never won a fight against the blue hedgehog before."

"But-"

"Using Shadow as a puppet for your evil plan doesn't count."

A single ruby eye twitched at that comment.

Sonic rolled his eyes at the conversation yet did not manage to hide the small, amused grin that grew on his lips at Bokkun's remarks. Despite the entertainment the scientist and his creation brought however Sonic still wanted them out of here. The young hero glared up at the fat, egg-shaped human that was the cause of the commotion. Shadow, Rouge and Knuckles were already by his side ready to fight off the threat, with the humans and the younger mobians scrambling back to give them room for maneuvering.

The rest of the group were taking steps back as the Egg Vulture flew above them, shrieking like a banshee, a metallic sound that made the mobians' heads throb with pain. Cream even began to cry, which in response Helen picked the rabbit up and cradled her close in a futile attempt to block out the wailing cry of the war robot. Eggman was howling from the cockpit of his machine at their pained and furious expressions, reveling in a plan well executed.

Sonic grit his teeth as he held his ground more out of stubbornness than courage, triangular cat-like ears pressed flat against his skull as the speedster fought valiantly to not cry out at the sharp ringing left in the wake of the high-pitched shriek. Snarling, the young hero rushed forward, jade eyes locked on the avian robot hovering several feet over his head.

Shadow was skating at his side immediately, wanting to get the fight over with as quickly as they could so he could return to his sky gazing. "One of the Emeralds is mine." The Ultimate Lifeform said with a low, harsh tone, his blunt exclamation resonating in the azure's ears as a statement instead of a demand.

"I'll let you have one if you manage to grab em' before me." The duo was forced to separate as a particularly well aimed rocked exploded in front of them. The two hedgehogs were quick to regroup however. "I'll even add an extra one if you manage to kick Egghead in the face."

He didn't need to look to know that Shadow was eying him like he had a few screws loose.

"...it's a deal."

* * *

 **Last chapter was a giant, so Imma cut it short here. I think it is a bit weak in the humor, but meh, I'll work on it next time I take a look at this. Besides, next chapter will be an asshole to write. More action, but smaller.**

 **Also, this is where it begins diverging from the original script. For those who read the original Holder Series, expect a lot of changes.**

 **And not just the skillz .**


	15. White Gales

**It's been a while.**

 **...in my defense, my writing skillz dried up faster than a fish out of water with the latest chapter of another of my stories. Arceus damn that took a while to do.**

 **In any case, chapter up!**

* * *

"...deal."

Sonic's eyes narrowed as he leapt into the open skies, body curling inwards and sharp, sword-like quills raising as he formed his species' signature attack. His ebony companion was close behind, a blur of black and scarlet blades that viciously slammed into the giant bird's chest, shredding the outer carapace of the creature and denting the softer metal beneath, forcing the machine back with the force of the collision. Before it could recover, the Vulture was on the receiving end of Sonic's deadly quills as the sapphire hedgehog-turned-projectile connected with the thing's head, denting it the needlelike beak inwards.

The gigantic avian shrieked like a dying beast as it ascended higher into the sky, dull purple wings spreading wide as it's crooked mouth snapped open, revealing a slowly spinning Gatling gun. Sonic's eyes widened at the charging weapon; if that thing fired, wayward bullets could hit his friends. He needed to close that thing's mouth before it fired or remove it altogether, as quickly as he could!

"Chaos Spear!" The Ultimate Lifeform was ahead of him for once, sending a flurry of shimmering golden lances flying into the machine's sharp beak with a flick of his hand, slamming it closed with a horrible metallic grinding sound. Smoke emerged from the Vulture's mouth as the attack did some irreparable damage to the machine's delicate insides. The creature seemed to sway in midair, before it's pale orbits began glowing brighter and it shrieked, flaring it's wings menacingly.

Sonic gave the the black speedster a grateful smirk and a thumbs up, to which the older male responded with a outraged sneer, as if he was offended by the fact the younger one tried to give him the cheering routine he reserved to his friends, which Shadow obviously wasn't. Insert the sarcasm in that.

Their opponent screeched above them, a sharp bark from it's crazed creator making it send a wave of small missiles at the two hedgehogs. Thankfully the rest of the group had ran for cover within the thick woods, so there was ample space for maneuvering. Dodging the projectiles with ease, Sonic rushed to the metal bird in his signature attack and brutally shredded through the left wing of the construct. The Vulture let out a metallic wail as it struggled to maintain altitude, painstakingly opening it's beak and sending a wave of bullet after it's attacker as Sonic landed on a crouch.

"Sonic!" Knuckles' warning shout made his head turn, keen jade eyes quickly picking up the small objects coming his way. The Blue Blur let out a startled yelp and dove aside as the projectiles tore after him, dirt tearing up and clumps of grass flying upon impact. The flying contraption that was Eggman's newest creation began following his movements with it's sharp beak. The azure hedgehog swiftly rose to his feet and darted away from the lethal hail of metal.

The bird would have continued targeting the running male if Shadow hadn't send a fleet of Chaos Spears coming it's way. The flying warbot dived out of the trajectory of the shimmering projectiles -earning a panicked cry from Eggman as the lethal bolts of light nearly hit him- only to shriek in indignation as a boulder struck it's chest. The broad purple wings faltered, smoke bursting from the seams in the machine's shoulders.

"Ha!" Knuckles exclaimed victoriously as he watched the fruits of his labor, a proud, satisfied grin gracing his face. "Are you going to pose a challenge or not, idiot!?" Eggman's facial coloration was nearing the shade of a rotting prune at his point.

"I'm amazed that you know what vermin means." Sonic decided to pipe in cheerfully, earning a loud indignant squak from the scarlet Guardian, a low amused chuckle from Rouge and an eyeroll from a ever-stoic Ultimate Lifeform.

"Shut up!" The last echidna exclaimed, tan cheeks reddening with both irritation and rage. He menacingly waved a fist at the younger mobian, showing off the sharp, serrated barbs that were his namesake in a threatening gesture. "Or I'll toss you into the lake!"

His only answer was a impish squeak as Sonic dived behind an unamused Shadow for safety, using the taller male as a makeshift meat shield from the angry, hot-headed Guardian. The black and red hedgehog looked sincerely put out, as if wondering why in the name of all things logical did he ever even think that coming to this outing would have any kind of positive outcome.

Realizing that it was being ignored, the Egg Vulture let out another ear-splitting screech that made more than one Mobian want to claw their eardrums out. Knowing that it wouldn't defeat the organics with long-ranged attacks, the mechanical beast dived down to meet it's opponents, curved, serrated metal claws wide open, ready to shred it's opponents to ribbons.

Unfortunately, it forgot to take into account that if it lowered itself to the ground, it would be exposed to a certain red echidna's monumental strength...and everyone who knew the owner of Angel Island knew that his strength only increased when angered. And _furious_ the Guardian was.

Knuckles met the giant claws head on, practically ripping one of the bird's metal legs off before the machine could even realize how badly it had miscalculated. By then, it's wings were pierced through and through by the two hedgehogs, and Rouge was quick to deliver a vicious spinning kick that dented it's beak inwards. The Vulture swayed unsteadily on it's remaining foot, great ending to topple over at any moment.

Sonic, being the ever so curious and mischievous soul he was, lightly tapped the giant avian war machine on the chest with his right hand. That was what did it for the damaged robot; it collapsed to the left, beak aimed at them, spluttering smoke like a dying bonfire.

"Huh." The azure hero muttered as he eyed the fallen machine. "Didn't think it would be this easy." As if it had been waiting for that exact moment to scare the living day lights out of the Blue Blur, a cloud of black smoke burst out from the openings of the Vulture's damaged chest, making the mobian yelp and jump back, earning him a few snickers and chuckles from his companions.

"There goes another one." Bokkun commented dryly as his master sat there, mouth gaping and face flushing all sort of shades of purple and red that would make a streetlight jealous. The little being lamented the fact he hadn't brought a recording device with him. He was sure that with enough persuasion he could get Orbot or Cubot to trade him a few free hours for the pictures...

The tiny messenger was brought back to reality by the loud crash his master's broad hands made as they angrily slammed down on the console of the Eggmobile. "Argh! Curse you, you insolent rodents!" Eggman howled from his seat, the flying vehicle swaying dangerously as it's creator waved his arms around, ranting and raging about his newest defeat.

Rouge gave the man a flat stare as she brushed the dirt off her suit. "Tell that to someone who cares, honey." She grouched, looking mildly put out by the dark patches staining her clothes.

"...I thought you reserved that nickname for special people." Sonic commented absently as he nudged one of the many burnt, smoking pieces of the war robot with the tip of his foot as if he expected it to suddenly grow legs and latch onto his face. His nemesis continued to rant in the background, ignored by the fighters since he was as harmless as a feral fly without one of his lethal creations backing him up. The Blue Blur found it strange that the human hadn't left yet, but a quick look around told him there wouldn't be a second robot coming.

With the danger defeated and passed, the rest of the mobians were leaving their hiding spots in the forest, closely followed by the humans. Chris and Chuck in particular were eyeing the defeated, broken remains of the Egg Vulture with interest, looking as if they were itching to tear it apart and learn everything about how it worked. Sonic almost smiled at the sight. He knew the Thorndykes well enough to know that there was a high chance he would find the machine in the humans' workshop before the end of the day.

Rouge huffed; the taller mobian giving out a grumble at the hero's comeback, too busy sneering down at the grime and dirt stubbornly clinging to her clothes. "He looks particularly pitiful today." The bat muttered, ripping off her gloves and using her long nails to remove the filth with more ease. The stains remained, however, to the jewel thief's despair.

"You insolent woman!" Eggman shrieked, mustache behaving oddly in it's personal dance as its owner's facial muscles twitched, skin reddened with anger and humiliation. "This is not over, rats! I still have - _hey_!" That last part was cut off as the old man let out a high-pitched screech of surprise when a well-aimed bullet hit the exhaust pipe of his hover chair, sending the unfortunate scientist of dubious sanity plummeting into the lake. The onlookers turned around to stare owlishly at Chris, who blinked repeatedly at the group as he handed the smoking revolver back towards an uncaring Topaz, all while Rouge watched on approvingly.

"What? He was getting on my nerves." The boy explained, shrugging at their unimpressed expression. "Besides, Rouge was going to do it anyways." All eyes turned to the white bat, who was discretely trying to shove her weapon back into one of her suit's many hidden pockets. The thief, feeling the attention that was now focused on her, looked up like a deer in the headlights and noticed the stares.

Rouge didn't even bother to look sheepish.

It was at that moment that a certain rabbit who cut through the amusement with her tiny, high-pitched voice. "Eggman looks like he can't swim!" Cream exclaimed with innocent worry in her voice as she watched the man trash in the waters. Eggman was frantically trying to escape the remains of his flying chair, and failing miserably as the heavy machinery dragged him with it. Bokkun had long fled the scene as he didn't want to end up living with the algae, nor he did he lack enough self-preservation to go after his drowning master.

"He's being melodramatic. Let him soak for a bit."

"He's sinking like a rock." Tails deadpanned as he watched the human genius flail around hysterically in the icy waters, screaming like a banshee. "It looks like his chair is dragging him down." The young fox deduced with his keen eyesight, making the blond teenager shrug.

"Sonic, go fetch him."

"I can't swim!" The indignant look of utter outrage and indignation the azure hedgehog shot the teen made him scowl: Chris didn't need to be an actor to know that the little furball of a shrimp was being melodramatic.

Despite their reluctance to be of aid to the Blue Blur's shenanigans, mobians and humans alike glared accusingly at the young human, who faltered under their judging gazes.

It looked as if he was going to go for a swim. Damn peer pressure.

xxxxxxx

Eggman spluttered and coughed like a dying fish as he struggled to spit out the fresh water that had managed to worm it's way into his lungs, all while the victors eyed him with distrust. At his side stood Chris, the gangly teenager sporting a irritated scowl on his face as he tried and failed to dry his shirt. Next time he would have let the old scientist drown, since it would be a relief to the world if the man perished. The expression sinking like a rock had been more or less literal with Eggman, as the youngest Thorndyke had been forced to go through the horror of retrieving the last Robotnick from several feet underwater and then carry his screaming, trashing behind back to the beach.

Chris was thankful of the fact Francine had practically forced everyone in their social circle into learning a sport of their choice so they could stay fit and healthy. He had picked swimming because it seemed simple enough. What was so difficult about floating at the surface? You only needed to to take a deep breath and use the air inside your lungs to keep you afloat, just like an oversized flesh ballon.

Of course, he had be completely and utterly wrong with his assumption, and he ended suffering through months of training until he, tired, dirty and sore to the bone, had finally decided to switch to running. He had wanted to drop sports altogether and focus on his research on Chaos Energy and its newly discovered opposite with his grandfather, but Francine could be very diplomatic when the redhead wanted to be.

By that, he meant that the baseball bat waved at his crotch had been pretty persuasive.

He watched with disinterest as Sonic slowly made his way closer the hacking, thoroughly soaked scientist, body language brimming with mischievousness. Eggman gave his approaching nemesis a heated glare that promised endless agony, but as always the sapphire hero brushed off the death glare with the ease of a veteran.

"Didn't know you could swim, Eggy. Are you done yet?" The said human bristled at the comment, and went even redder in the face from rage as the azure hedgehog tapped his side with the tip of his shoe, much like if he was an animal the irritating speedster found stretched out on the side of a highway and was carefully poking it because he curious to see if it would react.

The sneer Eggman gave his nemesis told the onlookers just how much he wanted to wring the young azure's neck. Unfortunately for the scientist, he was too tired to even reach up towards the speedy menace; rendered helpless by his unfortunate encounter with the freezing waters, he was at the mercy of the Blue Blur.

"Sonic, stop poking him." Not even the speedster's friends were that unmerciful, however. The azure hero paused, glancing at his two-tailed brother before talking a few steps away from his coughing enemy. Topaz stood a few feet away from the duo, alert and ready to retaliate if the madman tried to do anything; the woman already on the phone with GUN, quickly calling in a unit to pick up the crazy scientist.

A loud crash made heads turn to was the lake; the calm surface of the burst open as a spluttering, hissing, thoroughly soaked Eggmobile covered in algae rose from it's resting place in the bed of the small lake. The machine whirled around, as if trying to find the right direction to go, before it shot forwards at the island, causing the group to scramble back as the heavy chair sped towards them like a cannon the size of a small car.

It stopped short behind it's master, who, vitality suddenly returned, rose to his feet and leaped into the vehicle. The Eggmobile swayed for a moment under the weight of the bald human before rising into the air, it's creator's crackling laugh following it's ascension.

"Damn." Topaz made a face as she watched the inventor bent on world domination crackle like a lunatic. She muttered something intelligible into her phone before closing the device and stuffing into the pocket of her jacket with a bit more strength that it was needed. "I just called the unit in."

"We can still catch him." Shadow grumbled as he eyed the last Robotnick laughing victoriously in his hover chair like the madman he was. He had half a mind to blow up the ridiculous vehicle with a well placed Chaos Spear...

"Please no." Rouge groaned at the ebony and scarlet male's growl, her wings rustling lightly against her back, a nervous quirk that most members of her specie possessed. "I came here to rest, not to chase after fat men with am unhealthy obsession with hedgehogs."

This time in a karmic turn of events, it was Sonic who choked.

"You're getting lazy." Shadow commented without missing a beat in a tone that meant it as if it was a fact, ignoring how his younger rival was choking and spluttering like a old dying bird. Vicini looked mildly put out as he sauntered over and began patting his charge's back with a bit more harshness than it was needed. "If I remember correctly, you often brag about how much of a creature of action you are." The Ultimate Lifefrom adopted a thoughtful expression. "Then again, I remembering reading about how mobians lose a great amount of mobility as they get older."

Aquamarine eyes widened at the sheer _audacity_ of their owner's companion before narrowing into thin slits of cold, unforgiving sapphire as Rouge silently fumed, fur bristling. "Do I need to remind you, honey," The word of endearment was bit out in a way that made even the proud bio-engineered weapon of mass destruction falter and glance at the smaller mobian warily. "-that by being created by Gerald Robotnick, you are _related_ to the said fat man with an unhealthy obsession for hedgehogs?" By now Sonic had recovered from his unfortunate and unscheduled coughing session, and only let out a mild warning hiss at the GUN agent's words, one that flew over their head completely.

It was no surprise for those watching the exchange that the usually untouchable, cold-hearted Ultimate Lifeform winced.

 _(Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, indeed.)_

"Hey! Stop it with the gossips, you miserable cretins!" Eggman had enough of being cast out of the spotlight. "I'm supposed to be the main attraction!"

"Eggy, shush." Sonic commanded with the tone a parent would to their child after the said youth tried to insert themselves in a adult conversation. His archenemy let out a outraged shriek that rivaled his winged creation at the azure's words, one that was quickly followed by a string of curses that made Helen put her hands over Cream's ears in a fruitless attempt to protect the young rabbit's innocence.

The remaining Robotnick glared down at them with hatred, his entire face a deep shade of crimson. "Since you're so bent on ignoring me...well how about this, heh?!" With a push of a button, the broken beak of the Egg Vulture snapped open, startling the group as the mounted gun fell out of the sharp appendage accompanied by a burst of smoke, revealing a small, streamlined rocket.

One that promptly burst out of it's confines and headed straight for the blue hedgehog, leaving a streak of fire and scorched, burnt grass in it's wake.

Well, crap. Sonic was far too close to the rocket for comfort, but the sapphire hero knew with full confidence it would take him little to no effort to avoid the small projectile. The speedster was quick to realize however that even if he did dodge the small explosive, it would reach his friends behind him. While he trusted their strength, Sonic wasn't all that sure that they would be able to dodge it. Especially knowing that despite their ability to move at the speed of sound, teleport at will, summon a weapon with a thought, fly like a bird and dig through solid rock with ease, several of them were only children.

...not to mention that one of them was stuck in a wheelchair.

With no options left, the azure hero did what any sensible Holder would do while facing an unavoidable attack. Raising his hands up to chest level, he allowed the Life Plates to burst out of his body in a perfect circle. The artifacts responded to his call, sliding out of his torso as if his flesh was mere water before lining up around the sapphire youth in a circular formation. As the glowing plates came into their respective position, Sonic willed his Ether energy to stretch and twist around himself in a makeshift shield. The colorful mist solidified in front of him, thickening into a transparent wall, acting as a barrier between the hedgehog and the incoming projectile moments before the explosive's sharp tip slammed into the shimmering wall.

Too bad that Ether Shields, especially half-formed, unpracticed ones that were made at last minute, weren't the most effective blocking methods out there. He would have better luck using a sheet of paper to protect himself.

At the impact there was no scream, no yelp or echoing cry of pain. When the missile blasted into the Shield and exploded, Sonic's head was thrown back with an audible snap that made many of the surrounding crowd recoil, even the ever stoic Ultimate Lifeform who's scarlet eyes widened briefly at the sharp sound. The iridescent barrier flickered, once, twice, barely holding on long enough to protect the people behind it from the resulting flames that burst forth from the explosion, before being snuffed out, Life Plates eagerly sliding back into their resting place as their current owner was lost to the world.

Rouge was the only one close enough to prevent the dazed blue hedgehog from having to spit out a mouthful of dirt when he woke up, gloved hands wrapping underneath the younger's shoulders and keeping him off the grassy earth. The white bat had no difficulty holding the azure speedster as her training allowed her to take on targets that were bigger, stronger and faster than herself, so the little annoyance was like a feather in her arms -a rather prickly feather that was known to snore through screamed debates, people throwing things at each other and earth-shattering explosions, not to mention the said feather gave more headaches that he was worth, but that was besides the point.

"Son of a...!" Vicini let out a pained hiss as he rubbed his neck, leaning against the trunk of a tree for support as he felt the agony and sudden silence through his bond with the blue menace. "That explosion nearly fucking snapped his neck off!" The fire imp accused with a vicious snarl. More than one mobian let out a growl at the immortal's words, and Chris looked particularly vindictive.

More than one person let out a fearsome growl at the apricot male's words, but it was Rouge who spoke what everyone was thinking. "Got any last words before we haul your ass back to jail?" The jewel thief spat at the crazed scientist as she handed the limp form of the younger hero to Tails.

The fox carefully set his brother onto the soft grass, gloved hands gliding across the limo hedgehog's forehead to check his temperature, as the other hand settled against his neck, checking his pulse. It was beating faster than normal, but otherwise it was fine.

"Only one thing..." Eggman smiled, a vicious grin that made alarm bells go off in the mobians' heads. They watched as the round glass ceiling of the Eggmobile suddenly slide up from it's hiding spot and close over the mad scientist's head, protecting him from what was to come. _"I hope you can hold your breath!"_ Billowing white gales exploded from the fallen Egg Vulture, another weapon the group wasn't expecting to see.

The tasteless smoke burst forwards and expanded with surprising speed, quickly covering the entire beach and beyond, spreading into the thick forest and across the glittering lake.

The humans were the first to go down, their physiology unable to resist the effects of the gas as well as their mobian counterparts could. Chris flopped over against Helen's chair, as the young woman's head fell onto her chest as consciousness evaded her. Due to her extensive training at GUN, Topaz immediately tried to block the mist from entering her systems with the sleeves of her shirt, but the substance had spread too quickly as she collapsed as well. The other, older humans tried to reach for the children first, to drag them away before the smoke got them, but it proved to be fruitless.

Shadow let out an enraged snarl, hands beginning to crackle ominously with golden energy, but even the Ultimate Lifeform couldn't resist the tranquilizing capabilities of the pale fog that made up Eggman's newest trick. He faltered, ears dropping, red eyes narrowed in a effort to stay awake, a battle of will against the cloud of white, but like the rest of the group he, at the end, toppled over heavily onto the soft grass, out cold.

Knuckles collapsed moments later, his sheer stubbornness being the only reason the Guardian of the Master Emerald managed to stay awake as long as the enhanced biological weapon that was the ebony hedgehog. The rest of the older mobians put up a fight, but the mist was fast acting and no amount of willpower could stop it.

High above the clearing the protective glass top of the Eggmobile slowly slid open, the vehicle's creator examining the fallen, slumbering crowd with curiosity. At the realization his plan had worked, a arrogant, victorious smirk gradually grew on the scientist's lips.

It wasn't every day he managed to pull one over his nemesis, after all.

xxxxxxxxxx

 _He thrived in the shadows._

 _It wasn't a preference; his body was bred and trained for this. He could move faster than a fighter jet, his grey, almost black fur hid him from sight at night, his eyes allowed him to see in the darkness, his nerves were dulled to pain and his brain was exceptionally well-developed for his age._

 _This was the reason he was perched on a tree branch just above his target, dead eyes staring with intensity at the man below. He didn't know who it was or what he had done._

 _He just knew he had to kill him._

 _Scarlet eyes shifted, scanning the clearing filled with mercenaries of every kind, from mammals to human to reptiles to birds. They were lounging about, warily looking around as if they expecting something to occur. Most were on guard, but the few who weren't were staying alert were busy loading fourteen massive metal crates into two trucks. All of the thugs were armed to the teeth and keenly aware of their surroundings; they were ready for an attack._

 _They couldn't expect anything less after stealing drug shipments from Tybalt._

 _He crawled further up the branch, his foot pads gliding against the bark soundlessly as he got into position. He waited patiently for the orders, eyes rived on the target. Anytime now he'll be deployed. His muscles tensed, his slender figure blending in the darkness of the thick forest._

 _"Now."_

 _The dying began._

xxxxxxxxx

"Hey! Wake up already!"

This time he was able to stifle the cry of panic that tried to worm it's way pass his lips. Sonic rolled onto his side, groaning softly as the drowsiness persisted. He remained curled up, trying to hold some warm; it was cold and for some reason he sleepy. _What happened?_ He touched his hands, noticing the obvious lack of the familiar, numbing cold or the glass-like texture that usually formed on his limbs after having a nightmare.

Good. Maybe he was starting to get some control over it. It was about time.

 _Wait._

The drowsy hedgehog pressed the tip of his fingers together. They felt as cold and as unflinching as dry ice, sculpted into sharp, blace-like ends.

Yep. There we go.

"Sonic!"

Someone was shaking him awake. At the sharp cry, bleary green eyes blinked drowsily as the azure speedster struggled to regain the fine motor control he usually possessed. He was able to roll on his belly and lift himself up on his feet, yet his balance felt off. He stumbled, feeling like a newborn taking it's first steps into the world, barely staying upright with the help of whoever was at his side.

Sonic tried to look around, but all he saw was blurry, bright lights that left him even more blinded and disoriented than he already, much like if he stared at the sun for far too long. His ears perked upwards, twitching and changing position every few seconds as they tried to pick up the surroundings sounds. The azure hedgehog blinked hard, trying to dispel the drowsiness from his vision. When he opened them again, he was relieved to see that his sight had returned somewhat. The perplexed hero could see at the very least, but he still felt like melted pudding.

"Hey!" The person at his side grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him violently. It was through sheer force of will that he didn't reach down and clamp his sharp teeth around the unknown's jugular. Last thing he wanted was a dead body in his hands. Not now, not ever. "Snap out of it already!"

 _Tails?_ The azure hedgehog stared at the blob of yellow in front of him. As his sight began to take in details once more, he was able to see the concerned fox clearly. The genius child was helping him stand, holding his swaying figure still by the shoulders, a hint of panic in his sapphire eyes. Beyond ruffled fur and wide, fearful eyes the kit looked fine, which was a great relief.

Good thing I fought my instincts.

"Heya, bro." Great, his voice was slurring like a drunken sailor. Was he drugged? It would explain a few things. Tails gave him a relieved smile as the fox realized he was more or less coherent. "Tails, where are we?" Sonic looked around, frowning when he took in his surroundings.

It was a small metal chamber, one the shape of a cube. It was completely bare save for a single, heavy metal door that stood at the far end of the room, tall enough for one of GUN's signature war robots to walk through. The azure hero also noticed that he was leaning against a large, square cage, one who's door was wide open. By the amount of gadgets, metal pieces and other tools carelessly thrown across the floor, combined the the fact that the lock of the cell didn't look forced at all, the azure hedgehog guessed his little brother had something to do with it. While he was proud of the young fox taking care of himself, he was still horribly confused by his surroundings. Where were they?

"I think Eggman got us." It was almost as if the fox had read his thoughts. Tails shifted uncomfortably as Sonic struggled to rise to his feet, the aftereffects of the nightmare still as strong as ever. The emerald-eyed speedster caught the wary glint in sapphire eyes of his younger brother as he discretely glanced at his transformed fingers, but decided not to comment on it. He had enough with his cheeks feeling like they were burning with shame.

"Where are the others?"

"Don't know." It was then Sonic noticed a sliver of pale colored metal around his brother's neck, making in frown as he reached out and tilted the kit's neck aside to get a better look carefully, not wanting to stab him with his crystallized fingers. Tails allowed the speedster to do so, trusting his older brother enough to patiently waiting for him to finish examining the strange object with his deformed limbs.

 _Now that I think about it, my neck feels kind of itchy..._ He let his other hand glide over the small expanse of flesh and bone that connected his head to his shoulders, careful to not stab himself with the serrated end of his transformed limbs. His frown deepened as he felt the slim, smooth surface of choker tightly wrapped around his neck. "What's this?"

For the lack of a better word, the collar -he was so going to punch Eggman in the _face_ for this- was very thin and lacked any sort of texture or smallest, tiniest, most discrete gap that showed where the opening was. The blue hedgehog tugged the uncomfortable piece of clothing and winced at the sharp pain that followed as soon as he touched it. So it was set to shock him if he tried to take it off? That was it? Simple, effective...and boring. _So very boring._

Then again, his nemesis didn't have much luck in the imagination department.

Tails grimaced as he leaned away from his hand, wanting to avoid activating his own choker if he could. "I think it's a shock collar of some sort." The fox muttered as he sat down next to his brother, eyeing his glowing fingers with a hint of interest. They had yet to close, interestingly enough, but the young genius chalked it up to the fact Sonic had yet to force the change down. He remembered during the picnic, or yet again, this morning, how it took him a few moments of silent concentration to turn the strange material back into flesh, skin and bones...

"I didn't think Eggman was into this kind of thing." The way the two-tailed kit's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates was complete and utter gold in the Blue Blur's eyes.

"Eww, _Sonic_! Not the time for this!"

"Hmm. I'll keep that in mind." The said blue hedgehog tugged at his collar again as he tried and failed to accommodate it in a way that didn't make his skin itch and his fur bend uncomfortably. The young speedster hissed at the sharp, warning sting the little machine gave in return. It didn't hurt too badly since due to his occupation he had a much higher pain tolerance than the average mobian, but it was enough to be irritating.

His little brother's azure eyes rolled at the comment, before darkening considerably. When the yellow furred mobian spoke again, his tone was thoughtful and serious. "I tested my collar, it seems like it's programmed to give a shock each time I take a step towards the door, and each time is worse." The vulpine made a face, and Sonic noticed with consternation -and a flash of anger that made his finger's current condition stretch downwards, almost to his wrists- that the soft yellow fur around the kit's neck looked slightly burned. "I couldn't reach halfway across the chamber before it hurt too much."

Well that explained why they were sitting at the other side of the small square room, far away from the said heavy metal door. If he were to guess, these collars were designed to keep them confined to a specific area of they ever got out of their containers. Smart, Eggy, very smart. _Though you still got one-upped by a ten year old kid._

"I tried to get break them using the tools I had on me, but they are surprisingly resistant to damage."

"Well that sucks." The blue hedgehog muttered, following the fox's gaze until he was staring at his transformed fingers. They had yet to fully return to their organic state, iridescent lights dancing between the flesh and the crystal. The vicious, curved ends of his fingertips looked as sharp, or sharper, as any blade.

 _I wonder..._

Tails seemed to have come to a similar conclusion, because he eyed his brother in disbelief.

"You are joking."

"It won't hurt."

" _Right_." The young fox deadpanned, and when he spoke next his tone was flat and factual. "Let's ignore the fact that you make one wrong move and it's bye bye my precious neck." Tails' light blue eyes continued to stare through his brother's soul, and that was the only reason the young warrior had yet to argue. "You do realize that, unlike you, I kind of need my head?"

"Hey!" Sonic squawked indignantly at the jab, hands covering his fawn chest as if he had suffered a irreparable lethal wound to the heart. The sharp ends of his still-transformed fingers dug lightly into his flesh due to his carelessness, but the azure one ignored it in order to sigh dramatically. "Since when have I ever been wrong?"

" _Well_ -"

"On second thought, don't start." The tone was flatter and uninterested than the floor they were sitting on. For a brief moment the two mobians stared at each other in silence, gauging the reaction of their brother. Sonic smiled, eyebrows wiggling, a fox-like grin that felt awfully familiar to the yellow vulpine.

This dreaded grin was usually accompanied by a drenched Chris or Knuckles -as they were the preferred targets- running after him screaming and cursing as they promised death and torture. They always struggled to catch the Blue Blur, and more often than not were forced to give up as the azure annoyance was already halfway across Station Square and still crackling like a demented lunatic, uncaring of the unfortunate onlookers who were forced to witness their hero act as if he had drunk a bottle of caffeine.

"If you're scared of them so much, I can always use Ether Claw to get the collars off. Sure, they are twice as big and infinitely sharper, but-"

"Just get to it already!"

"Sheesh." He grimaced as the fox growled lowly, threatening to bring doom down on the speedster if he dared to make another childish comment. "You're awfully snarky today. I hope you didn't take life advice from Shadow." The sapphire hero's only answer was a long, hard stare from the younger mobian. "Alright, just stand still then. I don't want to carve your throat out by accident." I know by experience that these things go through flesh and bone with ease. Not that his brother needed to know that kind of information. His face was pale enough as it was.

* * *

 **ARGH. THAT WORD IS SO ANNOYING.**

 **NEEDLELIKE. ITS NOT NEEDLE-LIKE, ITS NEEDLELIKE...either way I spent a week staring at it gaping like a idiot as it made me question the very fabric of existence with it's wretched form.**

 **Alright, two techniques have been showed in this Act, and I think I should talk a bit about them:**

 **Ether Claw is a way Holders and other wielders of Ether energy can mimic the State's sharpened appendages in a exaggerated manner. It forms as three long, Glaive-shaped that are several inches in length and thinner than a hair. Can cut through stone with ease, but can be stopped with strong metals and anything that has a good amount of Chaos energy. While they have great sharpness and range, they don't have much dexterity. So don't expect Sonic using them to cut butter XD**

 **Ether Shield is, as its name says, is a iridescent shield of energy; while it can be strengthened with training, it is easy to dispel with continuous attacks. The bigger it is, the harder the technique is to maintain it. Damage to it reflects onto the user, so a powerful enough blow could, theoretically, kill the wielder of the Shield almost instantly, or if the person is a Holder, could send him/her into the State within moments.**

 **Ether techniques are most likely the only ones I make; the Chaos techniques used in this story will be mostly snagged from the games and the comics. So it's very likely that Shadow and Knuckles will learn new shit too. We can't have the Faker snagging all the fun, can we?**


	16. Daring Escapes

**It was exam week, so my writing schedule got a bit wonky.**

 **To make it up, I'll post another chapter next week.**

* * *

Getting out of the chamber hadn't been very difficult, not after Sonic managed to carefully claw the shock collars off in a way that didn't left him and his fidgeting little brother with chunks of flesh hanging from their necks and a river of red painting their fur a deep carmine. The heavy metal door hadn't been a problem as well; Tails had fiddled with it for several minutes until Sonic, who was busying himself with growing back his fingers because crystalline limbs were uncomfortable to have thank you very much, decided to use Ether Claw to rip the hinges of the door off.

With that done, he gave his vulpine brother the honour of drop-kicking the giant piece of furniture down, unknowingly crushing a robot that had been standing guard on the outside. It was a surprise when they noticed the sparkling, smoking remains of the machine sticking out from beneath the heavy steel door, metal fingers twitching as if trying to claw their owner out from beneath the plaque of steel, but not an unpleasant one.

That was the last happy thought they had in a while.

"This place is a maze!" A slightly disheveled and thoroughly _indignant_ Sonic ranted as both the azure hedgehog and the yellow fox found themselves back in front of their former cell, the smooth, square door still on the floor, crooked hinges barely hanging onto the edges of the doorframe, the shattered remains of the unfortunate robot still sparkling and hissing beneath the heavy metal plaque.

They had been everywhere; the place was a maze of hallways, twists, turns and dead ends that could put the great architect Daedalus to shame and his legendary labyrinth to shambles. If this was Eggman's idea of keeping them contained, he was doing an absolutely great job of making sure he was going to get punched on the face.

Tails gave his fuming brother a sheepish smile as the sapphire hedgehog let out a irate grunt. Just a bit more and there would be smoke coming out from his ears. "You don't need to act like this, Sonic." The said hero's scowl deepened at that. "I'm sure we'll find the exit soon." The comforting tone in his voice turned hopeful. "Maybe we will stumble upon the others! I'm sure we aren't the only ones who escaped."

"We'd be hearing explosions by now." The Blue Blur deadpanned as he looked around once more, triangular cat-like ears flickering atop of the mobian's head as he tried to spot or hear another of the guard robots . The two brothers had come across several of the machines during their search for freedom, but since the metal constructs were a model the duo were familiar with dispatching them had been a breeze.

"You do realize our friends can be sneaky when they want to." Tails reminded the young hero. "Knuckles doesn't always rely on brute strength, you know."

"...you just brought up Knuckles."

"...yes?"

"Tails. Come on. _Knuckles_. As in, touch-the-Master-Emerald-and-you-will- _lose_ -that-hand Knuckles."

"When you put it that way..." The fox's eyes shifted from the blue hedgehog to the broken door. The only things that stuck out beneath the massive piece of metal was the smoking remains of a head and two grubby, mechanical arms, as if the robot desperately had tried to pull itself out from beneath the structure. "...it's kind of a bit harsh."

"Do I have to say it again? _Knuc_ -" Whatever the azure speedster was about to say was cut off when he was forced to duck. The piece of robotic arm Tails had thrown in his fury flew harmlessly above his quilled head, smashing into the wall behind the duo and falling to the ground in a heap. It was starting to look more like a hapless pile of cables than a mechanical limb. Sonic eyed the fallen clawed arm for a moment before turning to the smaller, two-tailed mobian with something akin to mock hurt.

"When I asked if you were taking life lessons from Shadow, I didn't think I'd be right." Tails merely glared back, unamused. The menacing stare caused the taller, stronger mobian to hastily back away, further down the hallway where the chamber made a sharp turn, not wanting to attract the vulpine's wrath once again.

"I still have another arm here, hedgehog." The kit hissed, ripping the said limb off the remains of the crushed robot with terrifying ease. Sonic gave out a small squawk at the sight of his brother holding the metal appendage like a makeshift club.

"You're even using his insults!"

"Why you little uneducated fool-" The young genius took a step towards the Blue Blur, earning another squawk from the speedster. Unfortunately, Tails' hellish plans for revenge were cut short by the squad of robots appearing from around the corner of the abandoned hallway. The fox yelped before diving into the refuge that was the chamber he and his brother had been trapped in previously, leaving the sapphire hedgehog to do the work. Sonic didn't mind however, advancing with a happy skip towards the approaching machines with a grin that suggested his birthday had come early.

In his defence, the lack of action was starting to make his brain rot.

The cobalt hero dived into the swarm of metal with a determined glint in his emerald eyes, his quills tearing through the carapace of the robots with ease.

The models of the creatures he was battling were one the young mobian encountered often enough. Cheap, easy to build and not that smart, they were only dangerous when in high numbers. Eggman didn't have the funds -or the patience- to produce them with good quality alloys that allowed his deadliest, strongest creations to survive a confrontation the sapphire blades adorning his nemesis' head.

...well, that is until Sonic managed to find the weak spot made the whole thing topple over like a pile of cards two seconds later.

xxxxxxx

If there was someone who represented the embodiment of unhappiness at this very moment, it would be Vicini. The immortal being stared at the walls of his container with a distasteful grimace; he had awoken to find himself trapped inside a cage that seemed to be for some irking reason the equivalent of a hamster wheel.

There was no door, no window, nothing. There wasn't a single opening let even the smallest atom of air in; and while he didn't need oxygen, Vicini still found the lack of irking. Breathing had been one of those habits he developed after spending so much time around his charge, just like eating or sleeping. As such, being suddenly unable to get the required air was making his false lungs ache like if someone was dragging a fork against their insides.

Attempting communication with the scientist hadn't helped, as the human couldn't hear him from outside the orb. Sign language didn't help much either since the man rarely glanced away from the computer screens that littered the laboratory, though Vicini was sure the delusional Robotnick got the message.

Despite not being that well informed of modern times, he was pretty sure that the one-fingered salute was a universal gesture.

He leaned back against the glass, skulking as he eyed the plain white ceiling of the chamber through narrowed orbs. The immortal let out a puff of smoke, irritated at both himself and his captor. Had he not made this body's physiology as similar as his charge's specie, it wouldn't have been affected by Eggman's last resort as easily as it had been. Then again, if Shadow had gotten knocked out by it, the chances of him pulling through it awake and unscathed were slim.

The disgruntled imp shifted against the wall of his cage, wincing at the cold emitting from the glass-like surface of the orb. It was tugging at his Ether, as if trying to rip the construct that made up his false body apart. It wasn't painful per say, but highly uncomfortable. It was like sitting close enough to a fire for it to hurt, but not enough to leave any burns.

Lighting a single finger on fire, the trapped immortal tapped the wall of his cage with the concentrated flames, hoping it would at least crack or weaken the transparent material. His scowl deepened as he witnessed the apricot fire being snuffed out upon contact.

This is going to be so much fun to break out of, it's incredible.

xxxxxxxxx

The mighty strength of the Guardian was more than enough to deal with the reinforced cages that held him and his companion captive. Knuckles managed to break free though one fatal flaw in the design of his captor's creation: the hinges didn't have the same level of reinforcement as the rest of the cubic cage had. Sure, they were made of a strong metal, but they weren't as thick or as rigid as the bigger parts of their prison. As such, the hinges stood no chance against his strength.

It had taken several minutes of constant ramming for the scarlet echidna to reach freedom, even more to get a trembling, whimpering and dirty Cream out of her confinements -a tiny cage barely bigger than she was tall, almost as if made in an afterthought- and then the Guardian of Angel Island had been forced to deal with a constant wave of machines trying to drag him back into his container. Knuckles was nothing if not relentless, refusing to bow to the greater numbers. With brute strength, he tore through the clunky robots and was able to clear a path out of the chamber.

 _It's strange that no alarm has sounded yet._ Purple eyes narrowed as they scanned their surroundings, alert and wary. The only thing standing between Knuckles and his freedom was the mess of hallways that stood stretched in front of him, endless and confusing with their twists, dead ends and hordes of robots.

He felt like he had been aimlessly running in circles, and more than once the carmine echidna thought he had heard Sonic's light voice echo across the corridors of steel. If punching through the walls until he reached fresh air didn't have such a high risk of drawing attention from Eggman -and most importantly, tire him out and leave him defenceless, Knuckles would have done so. If he was alone the scarlet echidna wouldn't have cared about stealth, but he had a little one to take care of, and he'll be dammed if he couldn't protect her.

Sonic often said he had a soft spot for children; seeing as he had never snapped the blue brat's neck, Knuckles knew it was right. As soon as Cream let out the smallest whimper, her protector allowed her to nuzzle further into his dreadlocks. The tiny rabbit was perched on top of him, legs crossed around his powerful torso, arms wrapped around his neck, hiding away into the mass of thick red fur. There was little chance she would get struck by one of Eggman's creation like this, as the scarlet echidna was well versed in the art of dodging bullets after the years he had spend covering the azure annoyance's back during fights.

The corridor he was walking through was eerily silent, empty of enemies. It made Knuckles even more wary than he already was, unused to such lack of sound in one of his enemy's fortresses. Normally he would always hear the clicking of metal feet against the hard, unforgiving ground, the hissing of escaping gas, beeps and hoops of the robotic creatures he was forced to fight, or even the maddened laughter of the large human that had caused all of this. But here the mobian was greeted with the absence of sound, eerie and menacing. Cream's grip was tightening around his neck, the tiny, gangly fawn arms feeling taunt and quivering, an uncomfortable hold, but he could dismiss.

He had other matters to worry about, after all. Hands twitching with the need to curl into fists Knuckles slowly advanced deeper into the bowels of the hallway; he could see a door at the far end of the corridor, large and heavy, similar to the one that adorned the entrance of the chamber he and Cream had awoken in.

The Guardian hope he would find someone on his side beyond the door. Hopefully it would be Rouge -despite his dislike of the thieving bat, Knuckles grudgingly accepted the fact that she was the best when it came to infiltration and sabotage, so with her help it would be easy to get out of Eggman's base. He wouldn't mind Sonic or Tails, seeing as the fox's intelligence and the azure's fighting ability would be useful in this kind of situation, but Knuckles had enough of the blue annoyance at the moment. Any more exposure to the childish hedgehog would end up with a bloodbath.

"Mister Knuckles?" He nearly jumped at the sound of the airy voice. The echidna had almost forgotten he had a passenger.

"Yes?"

He felt the child shift uneasily on his back. "Do you think the others are alright?" Cream mused in a worried tone. Without her pet Chao, the little rabbit felt uncomfortable and strangely bare. Cheese was almost always with her; not having the blue imp around in such a menacing and alien environment was making the mobian child feel defenceless.

"Yes." Knuckles hummed, letting the word trail off as he walked further into the metal corridor. "I'm sure they're fine." The echidna muttered as he eyed the walls of the hallway, the possibility of hidden turret suddenly bursting out of them not one he should ignore.

"And Mr. Sonic? He was really hurt."

"The only thing that is hurt is his ego." The scarlet mobian replied thoughtlessly, seeing his words as truth. Despite the audible _snap_ he remembered hearing when the missile exploded, the idiot was resistant. Not to mention his impossible luck. Knuckles knew the sapphire annoyance was fine. He didn't expect anything less from the hedgehog. "He'll probably wake up with a headache, nothing else, don't worry." He was halfway across the corridor now.

It was at that moment that the floor opened up beneath him.

xxxxxxxxx

Being trapped in a cage with a fuming Topaz ravenously ranting about the injustice of the world at her side certainly wasn't the way Rouge expected to spend her day.

The jewel thief let out a irritated sigh as her human companion let out another almighty screech of righteous female fury before slamming her shoe against the lock of her cage with enough strength to make the entire structure rattle and while it did make a lot of noise, the stubborn lock refused to move.

That didn't mean that Topaz was going to stop however. It only made her more angry, the beating on the door gaining intensity as she swore in both English and bastardized French, bent on getting out of the cage if it was the last thing she ever did.

Rouge silently watched the scene like one would watch a circus show, occasionally glancing at the massive metal door of the chamber when she heard noises other than her companion's frenzied attempts at escaping her container. At one time she thought she heard Knuckles' voice as well as the softer, higher-pitched voice of a child, but even her broad, trained ears couldn't pick up much beyond the metal plate that held the room shut.

Topaz's indecent _screeching_ wasn't helping either, but if she hadn't been in this situation many times before Rouge would have probably flipped out just as much as her human companion, even more as she was stronger than her fellow female.

Nevertheless, the jewel thief remained calm and pliant, a mere observer to the destruction Topaz brought upon her own container. Righteous fury it wasn't; it was primal rage and indignation, feelings so strong that it made the human bang her fists against the metal door of her cage -not to a great effect.

"Maybe you just need to calm down." Rouge pipped in, barely hearing her own voice over the irate howls of her comrade. "Take a break; the old man's bound to mess up." She eyed the lock with mirth, almost as if she was expecting it to magically pop open. "It's genetic. He'll screw up and either Big Blue or Shadow are gonna take care of him. In the meantime-" She let her voice trail out. With a heavy breath, the mobian bat leaned against the wall of her own cage, crossing her arms over her chest for good measure. " _Relax_."

"This day just sucks." The human replied with a grumble, breathless as she lay down against the door of her cage, panting loudly as she struggled to recover from her mild breakdown. "How to you put up with this kind of stuff is beyond me."

"Welcome to my world." The white bat replied nonchalantly, shrugging. The female human eyed her, feeling both taken off guard and mildly disturbed by her lack of reaction.

That's it.

If this kind of insanity was considered usual for the mobians, she was _never_ gonna go visit their home world, even if it was for diplomatic mission. Point. She didn't think her sanity could handle it.

"We're on Earth." Topaz deadpanned as she struggled with the lock, this time trying to pick it open instead on relying on brute strength. The door refused to budge however, and it only made the GUN agent even more pissed. If -scratch that- when she got out of this box, she would give the fat man a piece of her mind.

 _And if the lock didn't snap open right now, maybe even bullet._ Topaz was sure that the mobians wouldn't mind.

"You get the point, old lady." Rouge muttered as she stretched her wings. Being a creature of the skies, the GUN agent disliked the small space she was trapped in. Her flight appendages were starting to get sore from the lack of exercise.

"You little shit!"

Rouge didn't even blink at the unfortunate shoe that was thrown her way. Luckily they were in different cages, so the heavy boot merely slammed into the bars of the human's container before falling to the ground, utterly harmless.

"Keep your slippers on, woman." The pale bat drawled with a hint of amusement in her tone. "As much as I love making fun of you, grandma, we need to focus on how to get out of here."

"What do you expect me to do, sit and do nothing like you?!"

"You whine to much." Tired of the irate human's constant screeching -though the mobian didn't blame her, seeing as she hated the cages as much as the taller female did, Rouge pressed a single digit against the lock of her own cage. With a soft click, the two GUN agents watched as it snapped open and fell to the ground with a echoing clatter. The mobian let out a low, pleased hum as she pushed the door open and leapt out of the container, stretching her ebony wings as she did so. "Ah! This is so much better!"

"... _how_ did you do that?!"

The smile Rouge gave her was vicious. "I unlocked mine before you even woke up, honey." The spy explained as she sauntered towards the door of the second cage, intent on letting her companion out of the tiny enclosure. The winged creature kneeled down in front the gate and began picking it open with a lock pick she always kept in one of her many hidden pockets.

"And you let me rant like an idiot?!" Topaz's mouth fell open as her cheeks reddened. The woman glared down at the bat with fury dancing in her pale eyes, positively enraged by the white bat's audacity.

For a moment, Rouge considered letting her stew in her container until she dealt with Eggman.

"Hmm...yes. I did. Too bad I didn't have a camera." She fiddled for a moment with the lock that kept her companion caged with a frown of concentration. Despite the quality of the lock, it stood no match for Rouge, clicking open with ease within seconds. She grabbed it and grew it to her right, uncaring of it's fate, happy to see it gone from her sight. The mobian bat stepped aside, pulling the handle of the gate with her, making the door click wide open.

Topaz stepped outside the small cage and stretched, letting her bones snap back into place. The woman walked up to the fallen lock and picked it up, eyeing it's alien design. She was pleasantly surprised by the jewel thief's skills. The human knew her friend was good, but she hadn't expected this level of mastery.

In any case, now she knew how her fellow agent managed to sneak into her apartment.

A loud crash startled her; quickly pocketing the lock, Topaz turned her head towards the source of the sudden sound...and stared. Rouge was standing next the heavy metal door of the chamber as the massive plaque slid open inwards with a metallic screech. How the hell did the mobian get there without Topaz noticing the sudden movement?

 _"How the fuck can you even do that?"_

"Skill. And practice...but mostly skill." Rouge said bluntly with a shrug, waving off the human's admiration. "So are you coming, grandma?"

The mobian was forced to duck, making the shoe fly over her head instead of smacking against her nose.

Unfortunately, the shoe still went on a date with someone's face.

"Ow!" Both Topaz and Rouge whirled around, alarmed; the relaxed when they recognized the figure of Sonic the Hedgehog standing on the other side of the doorframe with his brother in tow. "What was that for?!" The cobalt speedster was holding his nose, ears folded back as he glared at the two females.

"Oh god, I'm so getting demoted for this..."

xxxxxxxxx

"Huh."

Sonic stood at the very edge of the opening, owlishly peering down at the endless darkness despite his brother's frantic urgings to get the hell away from the giant gaping hole that seemingly lacked a bottom. Tails could yell as much as he wanted to get away from the eerie dark opening on the ground, the sapphire hedgehog was curious.

Besides, if he fell in the two tailed vulpine would dive after him and fly him out of the damp-smelling trap. No matter how irritated the genius fox was with him, the Blue Blur knew the young vulpine wasn't about to abandon his only brother to such a grisly fate.

At least he hoped.

 _I can always fly back out with Vicini's form..._ The question was however if he could transform quickly enough to avoid becoming a flattened paste of sapphire fur. Hmm...Sonic decided he preferred not to try fate. It usually ended badly for him.

"Are you listening to me?!"

Bored emerald orbs glanced back at the fuming fox. The azure hedgehog rolled his eyes at the red-faced vulpine before gracefully leaping over the opening, the strength residing within his long legs more than enough to propel the Blue Blur over the bottomless crevice.

As he landed on the edge of the other side Sonic slipped. It was just for a fraction of a second, but the speedster managed to catch himself before he could slide down the smelly trap. Sonic turned around and grinned sheepishly at Tails, expecting the angry genius to toss him into the hole at any moment -or spontaneously spawn that robotic arm he had been threatening him with earlier and mercilessly maul him to death for his foolishness.

The genius kit merely huffed, namesakes spinning lazily behind him as he gently leapt from one side of the hole to the other. The fox landed next to his brother, eyeing him with narrowed sapphire eyes. Sensing that the child was about to explode, the cobalt hero took a step away from the younger male, but not even that saved him from the incoming blow. Tails smacked the taller mobian over his head, ignoring the indignant whine that came right after.

They reached the door just in time to see it open.

...and for a boot to fly out of it.

"Ow!" It smashed against Sonic's face with a sickening crunch, sending the blue hedgehog stumbling back with a startled yelp of pain. The speedster clinched his nose, his eyes trailing downwards, noting the boot laying innocently at his feet, before the jade orbs flickered up to greet the white bat and the human standing at the other side of the door. They looked as equally surprised as he was -with a slice of mortification for Topaz. "What was that for?!"

"Oh god, I'm so getting demoted for this..."

"Oh, shush. At worse, Commander Tower will promote you." The jewel thief said with her usual flourish, smilking at her companion's muttered ramblings in the background. She tilted her head to the side at the sight of the cobalt hedgehog and the yellow fox. "What are you boys doing here?"

"On vacation?" The blue hedgehog answered sardonically, glaring at the duo as he rubbed his sore nose, taking care to not injure the bruised and sensitive appendage even further. "I'm not sitting idly in a cage, that's what I'm doing." Topaz gave out a sheepish smile as she went to collect both of her shoes, trying her best to slip them back on discretely.

"How did you get out?"

"Tails picked our cages open."

"Hmm. Good." Rouge let the pleased purr trail off, eyeing Tails with something akin to pride. The fox wilted and dove behind his taller brother, who glared reproachably at the jewel thief. "Maybe there's still hope for you yet, honey. I taught you well."

Sonic looked back and forth between the two mobians incredulously, taken aback by the female spy's words. "Since when did Rouge teach you how to pick locks?!" The Blue Bur questioned his brother, who shrugged nonchalantly, apathetic to his brother's surprise.

"That's easy." Tails bit out nonchalantly. "Since you decided locking me in the wardrobe of Chris' mom was a suitable punishment for eating your food."

"Dude, I told you that chillidog was out of limits."

xxxxxxxxx

"Are you alright, Mister Knuckles?"

"Yeah, just peachy." The scarlet echidna muttered under his breath as the cream rabbit lowered them to the floor. When the false floor opened up beneath their feet, the Guardian found that the chute was too small for maneuvers; meaning he had been next to no room for gliding. As humiliating as it was, the scarlet echidna was forced to rely on the younger mobian to not end up a smear on the ground. The vertical tunnel was damp and murky, the smell of decaying waste slowly growing as the two mobians descended further into the dark pit.

Suddenly there was bright lights assaulting their sensitive eyes, momentarily blinding both echidna and rabbit. Cream let out a startled yelp, the powerful beats of her ears faltering for only a moment; yet that sliver was enough for the two creatures to fall down like rocks. Thankfully for them, the floor was only several feet beneath them.

Knuckles was quick to wrap himself around the screaming, crying child, taking the brunt of the impact. He had survived worse, so when his broad back met the hard, uneven, wet floor the scarlet Guardian only grunted in pain, his facial expression twisting into one of discomfort.

"Oh I'm sorry!" The little girl he was curled around protectively panicked, untangling herself from his slackening grip. He allowed her to do so, his head falling back, hitting the ground as he let out a irate groan. Cream slid to the floor on his right side, innocent eyes round with guilt and worry. "Mister Knuckles, are you alright?!" The mobian was on her knees, long, strained ears dropping against her back as she frantically shook him by the nearest shoulder while checking the carmine warrior over for any signs of injuries.

"Fine." The last echidna grimaced, not making any moves to rise, as his body was loudly arguing against. "I'm just a bit sore." He eyed the metallic ceiling, the amethyst glare darkening when a broad metal panel sealed shut the opening from which they had fallen through, becoming trapped in this unknown room.

Even if if he managed to break that panel open they couldn't go up anymore; Knuckles could glide, yes, but he couldn't fly, and the little girl he was traveling with was just that. A little girl. One incapable of lifting a heavy weight, fully grown mobian such as himself, no matter how much she was currently professing that she could. Despite how much she pleaded, Knuckles wasn't about to let the kit break her ears in an attempt to pull him out of the trap. They had to find a way back up.

The chamber they ended up in looked like a sewer system. The room as massive, just as big as the main hall of the Thorndyke Mansion, filled with metal scraps and rotten waters. On each side of the giant, rectangular chamber were five tubes from where trash would occasionally fall out. The place was dirty, and stank of high heaven of rotten eggs. Quite ironic, knowing who built it.

As he looked around, the Guardian noticed a gleam of blue from a nearby pile of trash.

Signalling Cream to stay put, the scarlet echidna moved closer to the source of light. It was covered in the remains of a battle robot and rotting food, which made Knuckles' face curl at the potent smell. He remained determined to see what it was however, and plunged a stained glove into the mass of waste. His large hand wrapped itself around a round object, one that felt strangely cold despite the heat caused by the putrefaction of the material around it.

 _What is this...?_

Pulling it out, Knuckles stared in wonder at the object he had retrieved. The mysterious object was filthy, but even then he could see that it some sort of ornate glass orb, one as blue as the seas. The strange object had a weak glow to it, the reason it had caught his attention, and from it's darkening depths came slivers of different colours such as purple, white and cyan, dancing together within the soft blue of the sphere.

The Guardian fiddled with the orb, turning the mysterious object around in search of cracks or other defaults. He found none. Whoever had made it was a master in their art. He was pretty sure that Rouge would trade one of her arms for something like this.

Maybe I can get her to leave the Master Emerald alone for a few months...

"Oi! T-That's mine!" Startled, the scarlet echidna's head rose towards the sound of the shuttering voice like a deer in the headlights, Cream diving behind with a cry of surprise.

He was greeted by one of the most pitiful sights he had ever witnessed.

A mobian hedgehog lay a few feet away from him, his legs inside one of those gigantic pipes that constantly brought sewage to the room while his upper body was dangling out. A hand covered in cyan fur was jabbed towards Knuckles, narrowed pink eyes daring the carmine echidna to move while the being slowly pulled itself out of the massive pipe. While the threat and danger in his eyes was evident, it was ruined by the yelp the mobian gave off when he fell out of the pipe and into the rotting water.

The scream the newcomer as he came in contact with the slime-coated floor gave made Knuckles' ears ring.

The young hedgehog scrambled to his feet, almost standing on his tip toes as he tried to not touch the sewage piling up beneath him. Even with him standing at the tip of his feet however, he was barely reaching the Guardian's nose. Giving the rotting matter another furtive glance, the mobian pointed a accusing finger at the confused and tired echidna, bright pink eyes turned to reproachful slivers.

"Yeah, you, drop it, oaf! It doesn't belong to you, so get your slimy hands off it!" A pause. The hedgehog seemed to have a spasm. The creature was shivering like a leaf in the wind, the constant, restless twitching of the long, elegant quills adorning the top of his head a obvious sign of his nervousness. His ears were pulled back, flat against his skull, dropping. The constant darting of the pink orbs only added to the image of a terrified individual.

"On second thought, d-don't you dare drop it." The humanoid choked out, eyes suddenly watery. "Just put it down, gently... a-and...oh..." He seemed to be absorbed once more by the dirty waters that covered the ground. His eyes widened and he looked at the Guardian with a hint of panic. "No no no no no no..."

Knuckles tilted his head to the side, a ruby brow raising as he stared at the unknown hedgehog. The cyan mobian shifted uneasily, his lithe form rocking back and forth while muttering a soft no no no over and over again. As sad as the sight was, Knuckles wanted answers.

"What is _wrong_ with you?"

"I don't like this...being around all of this...filth..." His eyes quickly shifted from left to the right in a panic. The creature went a bit green in the face. The unknown hedgehog let out a small keen cry, arms wrapping around himself in a rather pathetic attempt to mask the constant violent shivers that plagued his body. "So much Chaos...couldn't find it...ohh I hate this. Just get me out of here..." Another pitiful wail escaped the being as he shook his head, bits of metal, oil and food falling off him at the movement.

"Get use to it, hedgehog." Knuckles muttered, paying little mind to the ramblings of the cyan mobian.

Cream walked over the newcomer and gave him a pat in the back, snatching a handkerchief from one her pockets and offering it to the shivering mass of fur. The hedgehog accepted it greedily, and began cleaning the rotting waste and dirty water off his pelt with a frantic rhythm, almost as if the trash was a powerful acid that could melt him apart at any moment.

"If you want to get out of here, I suggest you follow me." The Guardian exclaimed darkly as he handed the strange gem to the creature, who completely forgot about his appearance and rushed up to his side to grab it. He cradle the sphere against his chest protectively, using the piece of cloth Cream had offered him to get rid of the clumps of slime that covered it. "Got it?" Knuckles' amethyst eyes scanning the room in search of promising exits.

The cyan hedgehog gave out a shaky, frantic nod, his dirty quills bouncing up and down atop of his head. He no longer looked angry or irritated. The mobian looked in fact rather hopeful -with a extra slice of nausea at the side.

"Can you carry me?"

 _" **No.**_ _"_

Knuckles was starting to wonder if he would ever encounter a hedgehog that _didn't_ come with quirks that made him want to throw the slimy rodents into a ravine.

* * *

 **ABOUT ELEMENT SPIRIT ANATOMY:**

 **You may be confused why Vicini says 'false lungs' or 'this body'. This is because a Element Spirit's real physical form is the Core, which is a compact version of their 'true self', like, for example, Vicini's imp form. The 'body' is a construct of Ether their kind made so they could communicate and interact with the world around them without constantly burning/electrocuting/soaking everything they touch. Not to mention a giant fire bird or a massive golem made of earth is kind of difficult to ignore.**

 **Like the Core, the 'body' can turn into the 'true self', but the Core cannot turn into a 'body'. If the Core breaks, a Spirit looses their sentience, and it takes time for them to reform -and by then they are a whole new entity. The 'body' can be destroyed, and it will only disorient the Spirit. If the wounds are inflicted with Chaos energy, they will take several days, if not months to heal.**

 **For example, if Shadow managed to sever one of Vicini's arms with a Chaos Spear, it would take a few weeks to reform. If it was a Chaos Lance -a stronger variation of the Spear- it could take months to regrow. Chaos Blast? Whelp. Come back in two years.**

 **Their main weaknesses are Chaos energy and their Core, which have the same resistance and density as marble. Quite easy to dent with enough determination. they cannot move both their 'body' and their Core at the same time, which is another lethal weakness. If a Spirit needs to move his Core without the help of their 'body', they'll have to disperse their false self before being able to move their Core, and reforming their puppet-like body takes time.**

 **So that's it. I just wanted to get that out of the picture. Elements Spirits aren't invincible or omnipotent, not by a long shot.**

 **AUTHOR NOTES: In the first draft of the story Rio was supposed to be mildly vain, calm and collected, but I threw it out the window and left him with a bit of a scaredy cat and crippling OCD when it comes to unclean environments. What a turn around XD He wants to be as clean as possible (seeing as he is named the Purity Spirit, it kind of fits) so you can understand his behaviour in this chapter. I haven't encountered a lot of scaredicat OC in the Sonic Fanbase, so I decided to do it. Besides, he contrast greatly to several of my other OCs. I like to add variety ;)**

 **I hope I wrote the interaction between Rouge and Topaz well enough. Their relationship has always been explosive XD**

 **The fact that Eggman didn't take everyone captive is kind of simple; there were many characters at the picnic, so he took the most important people: Sonic and Tails were a given, Knuckles to learn more about the Master Emerald, Topaz and Cream as leverage (the former knowing classified information helps), Vicini to study Element Spirits, Rouge the same reason as Topaz.**

 **If you're asking why Eggy didn't take Shadow with him, well, he wouldn't poke the hedgehog with a ten-foot pole.**

 **He doesn't have anything to contain him; since Shadow is as quick as Sonic and as strong as Knuckles, not to mention can manipulate Chaos energy as easily as we can pick our noses, it would take a very specialized container, and my guess was that he spend the last week or two solely working on one to contain Vicini. And not to mention that Shadow, unlike Sonic, doesn't have any problem killing him, so Egghead is staying clear of that one for safety reasons as well.**

 **Daedalus is a mythological figure; he's the one who built the Minotaur's labyrinth in Greek Mythology. Yeah, I'm a sucker for that kind of thing.**


	17. A Wild Shadow arrives!

**Darn, this took a while. I blame the fact I decided to remake the entire end of this Act instead of going with the old version, so yup, more fighting scenes for you. As well as humor. I like to practice my humor.**

 **As always, please leave some critiques, my great readers! Fighting scenes are difficult, and I really need your opinion on 'em.**

* * *

At the end, getting to the upper levels of the base had been less difficult than they had previously thought. After all, why did they have to search for doors when they could make their own?

Topaz watched in amazement as multicoloured sparks burst from the metal wall as Sonic repeatedly struck it with his Ether Claws, determined to reach the other side through sheer brute force. The cobalt hedgehog was a whirlwind of shimmering colors, unrelenting in his assault of the innocent structure that was slowly caving in under his repeated, merciless attacks. The metal was breaking after three to four swipes in the same area, and in no time the Blue Blur managed to cut a doorway through the thick wall.

With a final, ear-splitting grind of metal, a piece of the formation broke off and fell backwards, onto the other side of the newly made opening. Sonic let out a whoop of excitement as he deactivated the Claws, and even Rouge allowed a small smile to grace her lips at the childish display.

"C'mon, let's go!" The azure hero exclaimed with a cheerful smile, jumping onto the other side of the hole -only to duck with a startled yelp as a bolt of plasma flew over his head.

The rest of the group scattered in a panic as the projectile hit the opposite wall, melting a part of it and sending dust and steam into the air, blinding the humans and mobians. Sonic lifted his head from the wall he had taken refuge behind and glared viciously at the large robot that had caused the sudden attack.

 _This is going to be a dozy._ It was big, thrice as large as a car and a thousand times heavier, heavy serrated pincers clattering loudly as gleaming, emotionless silver eyes stared down at him menacingly. The robot was shaped like a crab, sharp legs stabbing into the ground when it moved, leaving deep imprints on the metal floor. It was painted a vivid scarlet color, with a grey underbelly and yellow-tipped feet.

The stupid thing clicked it's metallic pincers loudly as it began moving towards the group. It waved it's massive arms, acting as if it was trying to provoke the cerulean hedgehog -not that the speedster needed any kind of goading when if came to fighting one of Eggman's creations.

The cobalt hero quickly dashed towards the machine with a slightly maniacal smile, nimbly dodging the huge pincers and narrowly avoiding the needle-like legs of the construct trying to skewer him. Too slow to catch him, the crab clicked it's pincers almost in irritation, struggle to keep up with the speedster's erratic movements.

"Haha!" It tried to crush him with it's underbelly, but Sonic was simply too fast. "Too slow, you worthless insect!" The creature seemed to have understood the insult -no matter how half-baked it was- and it's efforts to squish the irritating hero became frenzied.

"Sonic!" Tails' exasperated voice came from the other side of the room, next to the stairs. "Crabs aren't insects, they are crustacea-" His lecture was cut off by the robot's metallic cry of annoyance as the young azure managed to pluck on of it's eyes out with a well-aimed Spindash.

"Tails, I kind of don't give a crap about it! It's a robot!" He dodged a serrated pincer with ease. "You could tie a frilly pink bow around its head and I still wouldn't care about it beyond beating this thing to the ground!" Sonic could almost see his brother gritting his teeth in frustration. Unfortunately since he was in a battle to the death with oversized sea food, the Blue Blur couldn't simply turn his head around and watch the amusing expressions -and colors- on the genius fox's face.

By his guess, the vulpine was probably greener than a lettuce by now.

He should be finishing this. Sonic quickly grabbed onto one of the monster's pincer and used it to get up to the robot's head. As the crab struggled and flailed wildly in a desperate effort to dislodge him, charging at walls and tearing it's own back open with it's weapons as it tried to shred the blue warrior. It's claws opened occasionally, letting loose wild bolts of energy that charred the walls and ceiling.

A pincer managed to catch him by the ankle, the iron tight grip on his limp cutting the blood flow before lifting him off the machine's head, where a single pale eye could glare up at him with rage. Sonic paled as it tightened it's grip even more, threatening to snap the limb off.

"Do you always need to be saved from your own stupidity?!" Before such a gruesome outcome could happen however, a blur of black and white connected with the forearm that connected the pincer with the main body of the crab, shattering it with ease. Sonic managed to land in his feet as Rouge flew overhead, slamming metal-tipped boots done on the crab's remaining camera, destroying it.

The robot twitched and thrashed around, running into walls and letting out distressed beeps of anger and fear. It's remaining pincer swept across the room, carving chunks out of the stairs and walls, trying catch the cause of it's damaged body in the deadly weapon. It was as effective as a predator trying to track prey without a nose.

As funny as the sight was, it was still pitiful. Deciding to put the poor thing out of it's misery, Sonic leapt up and curled into a ball before striking down upon the hapless robot without mercy, his sharp quills cutting through the tough metal carapace and shredding the delicate insides.

The crab let out a beeped howl and gave a spasms, pincers twitching in a odd dance and sparks of wayward electricity coming out of the hole atop of it's head before it's legs gave out underneath the giant, sending the massive construct crashing to the floor. The entire room trembled after the titan fell, defeated.

"Are you all alright?" Sonic poked his head out of the crab and looked around from his friends. He found the trio scowling up at him, covered in dust and metal fragments caused by the spindash...not to mention all three had fallen on their behind when the crab had collapsed, causing the whole chamber to shake dangerously.

"Just peachy." Topaz hissed as she got up, dusting her pants with a scowl. The fabric was utterly ruined, torn and dirty beyond imagination. There was no saving it. It was going to the trash. Point.

Clumsily climbing out and down the robotic crustacean, Sonic offered them a sheepish smile. With the machine done for, the azure speedster looked around and noticed with a bit of happiness a stairway behind the smoking remains of the machine.

 _Eureka!_ If this was anything similar to the dozen of bases he had infiltrated -Sonic knew for a fact his arch-nemesis was too lazy to redesign his compounds from the ground up- the fat scientist had to be in the highest floor.

"Wait." Tails suddenly called out once more, startling the hedgehog out of his train of thoughts. "I don't think we should leave." The mobian explained, namesakes swaying lazily behind him as he stood his ground at the entrance of Sonic's makeshift door.

"...don't tell me you like it here." Topaz deadpanned with an exasperated expression on her face. The human stood near the staircase, looking just as eager to finish all of this as the cobalt hedgehog at her side.

"Shut up." The fox muttered, not wanting to deal with any ridiculous comments. "How about the others? We don't know how many of our friends Eggman took." Sonic paused at this, mulling over the younger boy's words. His left shoe hovered in the air just above the first stair, inches away from the metal structure.

His brother was right. What about the others? Amy, Shadow, Chris or Cream...? Well, the Ultimate Lifeform was off the list since he couldn't feel his rival's overwhelmingly destructive Chaos aura, but that didn't mean that the rest of his friends hadn't been taken as well...

...meh. He'll go get them later.

"Well, I can't feel Shads' Chaos Aura, so he's out." The cobalt hedgehog let out a soft hum as he thought over the list of people that had been at the makeshift picnic. "I know Knuckles can escape just fine; and Cream is scary with her Chao. Amy is sure to be out and about." A grimace wormed it's way into his face. "I know Vicini is nearby. I felt him, but..." He trailed off, unsure, a thoughtful expression gracing his features.

"But what?"

Sonic frowned before letting out a loud, conflicted sigh, resting his foot down on the first stair."I don't know. He feels...muted? Urgh. This place is filled with Chaos energy. It's very hard to pinpoint his location. Geez. I can't even hear him anymore." A pause. Startled emerald eyes blinked slowly, as if suddenly struck with realization. "Well, that's a blessing."

"Not for us." Rouge muttered under her breath. Sonic pointedly ignored her comment, choosing instead to make his way up the stairs.

 _Clunk_.

"What was that?" Topaz said with a growl as her hand flew to her side, clutching the place where her gun usually rested. Damn, she would trade her soul away to get it back. The human felt disturbingly vulnerable without it.

"Huh..." The hesitant tone of the Blue Blur was enough to bring all attention to him. The sheepish hedgehog pointed downwards, ears dropping in shame, one hand scratching his quills as he tried to avoid the judging glares of his comrades.

The stair tile that had sunk beneath his feet was pretty damming.

"You just had to, didn't you." The lone human muttered with a sibilant hiss, hands twitching with the need to strange the blue fiend that dared to smile up at her.

"I like to think these things are bound to happen." The Blue Blur exclaimed with a small, nervous laugh, one probably due to the murderous intent in his friend's eyes.

"Bullshit." Both Rouge and Topaz grunted at the same time.

 _Clunk_.

The entire group stiffened at the repeat of the sound...only to turn to a certain yellow fox, the only one who had tried to stay out of the argument. He was staring down at the innocent little stair that had shifted downwards under his diminutive weight, his face exceptionally blank.

"Well. Would you look at that."

 _Shuck_. The slick sound of shifting metal was their only warning as to the sudden appearance of several miniature versions of the crab-robot coming out of slots within the walls, summoned by the activation of the two traps. Their little pincers clicked and clattered ominously as they advanced towards the group, eager to tear the intruders apart.

"Ooooh, company!" Sonic quipped cheerfully, cracking his knuckles and giving the approaching horde a satisfied smirk.

"You're disturbing." A soft voice commented behind him. At his side suddenly stood Rouge, obsidian wings spread wide and a vengeful grin gracing her lips. The two dove into the mass of flailing metal pincers and glowing green eyes as one, intent on making sure not a single of the machines lived for another day.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Sonic happily tore the hinges out of another reinforced door with a well-aimed Ether Claw before letting the giant structure collapse on the other side with a gentle push. With the door gone he stepped into the control room, smiling as he realized he had been right. A familiar human was sitting in the middle of the chamber, comfortable within the safety of his Eggmobile, scowling down at him as if he was the cause of the man's misery.

Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. Details, details...

Eggman could only glare as his nemesis skipped his way into the room, emerald eyes taking note of the small, glass-like bubble in which a dismayed orange immortal was glaring daggers at the scientists. The look in the fierce sapphire orbs told just how much the creature wanted to reduce the humans to a pile of ashes. The last Robotnick pointedly ignored the murder in the being's stare, choosing instead to gaze down at his enemy with a moustached sneer.

Sonic sent a metal prod through his link with the fire sprite, only to frown as it seemingly bounced off something thick and transparent. The young hero eyed the container Vicini was trapped in once more, jade orbs narrowing with suspicion. That was not made of glass. He didn't know what material it was, but it certainly wasn't glass.

The sound of his enemy's voice echoing through the chamber snapped his attention away from the globe that contained the fuming Element Spirit. "Evening, rodents." The deranged scientist boomed with a malicious grin. "Did you enjoy your sleep?"

"It was lousy. Give me more pillows next time." Sonic muttered off-handedly as he stepped forwards in front of the group, speaking just loud enough to make the man splutter indignantly. "So, are you going to tell me where the rest of my friends are, or do I have to kick your ass again?"

The scientist tutted softly at that, not letting the insult get to him. "Oh, decisions, decisions..." He muttered, waving a hand. "Might as well tell you, seeing as you will never escape this room alive." A pair of emerald eyes rolled at the comment. "I didn't expect so many people at your gathering, so I took as much as I would." Eggman shrugged nonchalantly. "Besides the lot of you, the echidna and the bunny brat, everyone else should be sleeping the day away at your little island."

"Really."

"What, you don't trust me?"

"Not even with my socks."

"Believe what you want to believe. There wasn't that much space on my aircraft." A disgruntled Eggman explained with a grimace. "Besides, why would I bother will all of those pesky humans?" Sonic blinked owlishly at his enemy's choice of words.

"...did you just dis your own specie?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Who cares." The bald human exclaimed as he sat back against his seat, the toothy grin on his lips broadening. "Besides, I think there's someone you would love to meet." The scientist said smugly, his smile turning cold and eager. "Oh wait!" Eggman broke out a loud, boisterous laugh to Sonic's consternation -as well as slight mortification. The way the man had jumped from angry to amused was been a tiny bit unsettling, even if this wasn't the first time the human had acted this way. "I believe you two are already acquainted!" The bald scientist pressed a button on the control pad of his hover chair, causing the room to shake.

The ceiling suddenly unfolded like the petals of a flower, allowing the being that stood above it to present itself. It clung to the walls of the newly remodelled chamber with the ease of a spider. Two crimson eyes the color of fresh blood illuminated the dark-coloured construct, casting a sickening shadow on the inhabitants of the chamber.

Great metal wings unfolded as the beast of war slowly lowered itself in front of it's master, all while gazing down at it's small opponent with the unnatural stare of a intelligent machine. Heat billowed out in the form of translucent smoke from a sharp, serrated beak filled with curved teeth as ruby red orbs glowed with the ancient energy that powered the construct.

The robot was twice as big as Sonic had last seen it, and it seemed even slicker and stronger than it's previous form. Instead of a blocky torso, it was sleek and flexible, rings of ebony metal holding the machine's abdomen together. Spines and quills decorated the base of the wings as well as the thing's back, giving it a more dangerous, nightmarish appearance.

"I present you one of my finest creations, the Egg Vulture 2.0!"

The maniacal laugh from his nemesis wasn't help matters.

He gazed down at the thing's chest, alarm bells going off inside his head as he noticed that there was a fourth Chaos Emerald lodged in the machine's chest. The ruby red jewel gleamed mysteriously within it's metal confines, almost as if mocking the cobalt hero who knew exactly whom the stone belonged to.

Something told him that the owner wasn't going to be a happy camper when he noticed the mythical gem's disappearance.

 _Man, Shadow's going to be pissed..._

The monstrous construct let out a soft hiss, turning his attention back to the thing's head. Sonic returned the emotionless stare with defiant emerald eyes, refusing to back down. The thing almost seemed to smile at this, massive wings shifting as it stood on it's hind legs, ready to attack. The massive bronze beak snapped open, the taint of Chaos energy thick in the air as it prepared to fire at it's tinier opponent.

"Crap! Scatter!" The rest of the group didn't need to be told twice as the Vulture descended upon them, a beam of purple light bursting forth from it's jaws and slicing straight through the metal floor as it approached the intended target.

Sonic dove aside as the metal bird tried to impale him with the energy beam; it trailed after him, finally going out as the Vulture leapt at the blue speedster, nearly pinning him down with one of it's wing-talons had the hero not dodged at the last moment. The claws stabbed into the floor with ease, and the robot growled as it pulled the appendages out before turning towards the cobalt mobian.

The Blue Blur merely smiled as he stood in a fighting stance, curled fists raised as he gauged his lifeless opponent. The Vulture howled, wings spreading, razor sharp metal feathers quivering against it's hide in a strange dance. It took a step towards the azure hero, who stood his ground, dauntless.

"Aren't you pretty."

The metal beast roared, beak snapping open and purple light growing within it's throat as it prepared to fire once more. When it fired Sonic leapt aside before lunging forwards, deftly climbing onto one of the avian's blade-like wings and using his newfound height to latch onto the back of the bird.

The Vulture twisted and trashed, shrieking and snarling as it tried to turn it's head around in a attempt to bite down on the azure annoyance. It's wings flexed, spreading wide as it tried to dislodge the parasite. The massive appendages began to flap wildly, lifting the bulky machine off the floor...and straight towards the ceiling. A very hard-looking ceiling.

The last thing he wanted to end up as is a pancake, even as delicious as those things were. Sonic quickly let go of the metallic spine he was holding and slid to the robot's side, barely avoiding to be crushed into a paste as the Vulture's back collided with the top of the chamber in a resounding explosion. With a ear-splitting screech the metal ceiling gave away, the entire room shaking under the strength of the machine.

 _Well, this was going to end badly._

"Idiot! Do you want the base to fall on us?!"

 _Tails, you're not helping._ The robot continued to struggle; in his new position he was vulnerable to the thing's beak grabbing him from behind. The Vulture was not stupid enough to damage itself by trying to skewer him with it's energy beam, so it resorted to twisting around in mid-air, a odd, desperate struggle in a attempt to catch the mobian holding on for dear life.

Each mighty beat of it's wings sent it flying against the roof of the chamber, causing terrible quakes each and every time. The ceiling began cracking and twisting under the strength of each blow, threatening to break at any moment.

...which it did with a ear-splitting grind of crushed metal. The Vulture tore through the ceiling, each heavy wing beats sounding like thunder as it lifted it's gargantuan weight over the damaged base. A cloudless sky greeted the beast and it's unwanted passenger, warming the later's fur as he looked around, happy to breathe in fresh air, instead of the iron aftertaste of heavy machinery that assaulted his nose and mouth each time he entered one of Eggman's dwellings.

Oh look, fresh air! He closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, savouring the wind running through his cobalt fur. Sonic wasn't claustrophobic per say, but he was relieved to see open skies once more.

Even if it was a thousand feet in the air on the back of a giant demon bird robot.

He wasn't complaining.

Now able to maneuver freely without the small space of the base, the Vulture began to perform narrow loops and twists in a attempt to tear the offending creature off itself. The Blue Blur held on tightly, a startled yelp managing to worm it's way pass his fawn lips as his unorthodox mode of transportation dived down in an attempt to scare him into letting go of the spine he was holding onto for dear life.

Normally he wouldn't be bothered by such an action -he'd spend scarier moments on the Tornado, especially when Tails just started learning how to drive it- but the simple fact that terrified him was the absolute _lack_ of land beneath him. Eggman had chose, of all things possible, to hide his base within a reservoir. The murky waters of the lake seemed to greet him mockingly as he quickly lost altitude, and the cerulean hero bit his lips to prevent himself from screaming as the water came rushing, closer and closer now, deep and endless...

...and then the Vulture opened it's wings and spun through the skies in a tightly circle, determined to get rid of the parasite. Sonic let out a soft sigh of relief as the lake beneath turned into a tiny blue speck. With it out if his mind -and sight- he could focus on his nemesis' newest creation.

Pressing both of his feet against the metal hull of the machine's belly, the cobalt hedgehog leaped as high as he could go, body curling into a tight ball as gravity began to pull him back down. The young hero spun in mid-air, his movement only increasing his speed as he lunged towards the giant black bird, who flew at him, eyes glowing and beak gathering shimmering purple Chaos as it prepared to fire.

Despite it's power however, the robot was still a lousy shot, it's programming unable to keep up with the pure speed of the falling Blue Blur. The first four shots missed, with the fifth lightly burning his ankle. Sonic continued to fall towards the avian war machine, sapphire quills standing stiff and ridged, ready to tear through solid metal as if it was paper.

...of all the things that could have happened, the green-eyed warrior certainly wasn't expecting his head to slam against the hide of the machine and bounce off, leaving only a deep silver scratch across the ebony paint of the metal avian.

It wasn't the first time someone had stopped his Spindash, but it still hurt. A lot. Like someone had slammed a frying pan over his head, or Amy hitting him with her infamous hammer. It took a moment for him to blink away the stars dancing in front of his eyes, and by then he was falling, too far away to grab onto his opponent.

 _Crud_.

Hedgehogs weren't meant to be a thousand feet in the air, so it was no surprise that the azure hero dropped like a rock.

He looked up, noting that the Vulture had folded it's wings and was diving after him. Sharp talons were open and stretched downwards, aiming to skewer him.

The Blue Blur really didn't want to become a shish-kabob _a la hedgehog_ anytime soon.

"Ether Shield!"

He felt the familiar cold leap out of his chest, tightly coiling around him; the howling of the wind was muted by the luminous orb that covered him protectively. The cobalt hedgehog grit his teeth as he felt the Plates push against the walls of his heart, yearning to escape. Sonic forced them down skillfully, drawing onto their nearly limitless source of power to strengthen the bubble the falling speedster had created around himself.

The Vulture spread it's wings once more and flew back up, intent on not ending as a lump of twisted metal on the base's roof. Sonic had no flight appendages at the moment however, and could only close his eyes in preparation.

The Shield slammed against the thick metal and flickered, barely holding on just long enough bounce once more and dispel, preventing it's creator from splattering his brains all over the roof of the base. Sonic breathed out a sigh of relief as he struggled to rise from the makeshift crater. His back ached from the pain, yet the young speedster reminded himself that it could have been worse.

And then the Vulture fell upon him, the sharp, gleaming talons spilling carmine blood.

xxxxxxxx

Knuckles let out a grumbled snarl as he easily crushed another machine with his foot, the pitiful thing buzzing and twitching oddly as it sunk into the rotten waste that covered most of the sewer. The rest of his opponents scattered, blinking green cameras rolling madly in their sockets and terrified beeps escaping the robots as they fled for safety, taking refuge inside the gigantic scraps of metal that decorated the sewers.

Despite having the urge to continue his rampage, the Guardian wasn't about to touch the heaping piles of rotting matter.

Cream and the cyan hedgehog -Rio, as the quivering fool introduced himself with a pathetically shaky voice- were huddled together behind the irritated echidna, happy to let the Guardian take care of the tiny creatures.

The newcomer was holding the strange orb to his chest protectively, already light skin growing even paler each time his boots sunk into the dirty waters. Despite the small cloth Cream had offered him the creature was still more brown than blue, and the constant shivering combined with the wide, terrified eyes showed just how much he was displeased with his unfortunate situation.

The little rabbit at his side had to qualms with her appearance, serenely walking next to Rio. Cream grew worried only when a few of the sewer dwelling machines tried to take a bite out of Knuckles, even if they were easily dispatched by the carmine mobian with a few careless swipes of his massive hands.

"I want to get out of here."

He wanted to snap that tiny blue neck of his. Knuckles was starting to think that being irritating was a requirement for being a hedgehog.

"Mister Rio, you should be more patient." Cream spoke out, her soft voice filled with child-like innocence calming the Guardian's nerves. Somewhat. It only took a glance at the annoyance walking at his since for the murderous intent to rear it's ugly head again. "I'm sure Mister Knuckles is doing his best to find a way out of here."

"But you haven't been in this maze as long as I have." The red-eyed male whined as he cradled the little jewel closer to his chest protectively. "There is no safe place here. Just unless piles of crap! And with all of that prissy Chaos floating around it's impossible to move effectively!" The cyan hedgehog pulled two of his top quills as he let out a warm led cry, clutching the jewel he was protecting closer to his chest. "This is hell on earth!"

"Stop whining for -whoaah!" Knuckles' irritated growl was cut off by a startled snarl as the entire sewer system seemingly shook violently, almost as if it was threatening to collapse. To make matters worse, a beam of purple energy tore through the ceiling of the room, splitting it open. The roof caved in a few feet in front of them, blocking their path.

...but also giving them a new exit.

Knuckles marched over to the pile of rubble; he looked up, blinking as he realized he could see the ceiling of another room. The roof and the walls of the floor above them had partially collapsed, forming a tube that led up at least two levels.

This route was less safe, but it would certainly get them out of here faster. Staying at the bottom floor of a building that was beginning to show signs of caving in -he instinctively knew it was Sonic who was the cause of all this- wasn't safe at all. Normally he wouldn't care, but at the moment Knuckles had a child and...a slightly larger child to put it lightly, that were dependent on him.

Checking once more that the makeshift tunnel wasn't about to collapse on top of them, the echidna nodded to himself before turning to his two charges, who were staring up at him expectingly.

"Alright; let's go."

"Up there-?!" Knuckles wasn't going to let Rio finish however, gloved hand shooting out and snagging the uncertain cyan young before hauling him upwards. The mobian let out a squawk as he was lifted like ragdoll, his shrieking ending abruptly when the Guardian nearly slipped during his ascent up the mountain of rubble, nearly dropping him into the minefield of pointy objects as a result.

Cream followed behind them, easily rising up the makeshift tunnel with each soft flap of her broad, delicate ears. The red echidna was truly grateful that the rabbit wasn't as picky nor as ridiculous as the hedgehog he was currently manhandling. Rio had been reduced to a pitiful lump of fur once more, a occasional defeated whimper coming out of him as dust fell from the walls of the hole and splattered his bright fur with a new layer of filth.

The climb wasn't difficult per say, but with the quivering mass hefted over his shoulder it was challenging. This wasn't the first time Knuckles had a passenger, yet he hoped this would be the last time he would be around this pathetic creature. Carrying a concussed Sonic who began a one-sided argument about how he never drew onto the powers of the Chaos Emeralds because he didn't like pink would be better than transporting this hedgehog, who kept silently weeping at every particle of dirt falling upon his head.

Another shudder travelled the building, causing small pieces of concrete to fall atop of them. Knuckles continued to climb under the rain of stone; keeping an sharp eye eye out on Cream. The girl was almost at the end of the tunnel, the shower of projectiles leaving her unharmed as she slipped into a crack in the wall. The echidna redoubled his efforts to ascend, climbing more quickly as the shudders escalated dangerously.

Finally reaching the opening in the damaged wall, the Guardian threw his charge into the crack before jumping out of the tunnel himself. The carmine echidna heard a loud crash behind him but did not turn to see the damage, focusing instead on his surroundings.

Several dozens of pair of glowing red eyes emptily stared up at him and the two younger mobians, pincers clicking loudly as the creatures began advancing towards the echidna.

Knuckles took a step back, wary at the sight of the small machines marching towards him. Shaped like crabs, they were definitively larger than the robots he had encountered in the sewers, reaching his chest with their pincers. The said appendages were oval and their openings were jagged and sharp, perfect for slicing and tearing.

The room around him seemed to be some kind of assembly line, for mechanical parts lay thrown atop of large manufacturing machines. More of the crab-shaped robots were crawling out of them, with bulkier machines trailing after. There were round and armed with small mounted guns, their design one Knuckles was more familiar with.

The echidna jungled with the idea of jumping back into the tunnel and continuing to climb to the next level, but quickly discarded it when he realized that he would never have the time to throw the cyan hedgehog -who was still pathetically crying on the floor, curled up in a tight ball of fur- and Cream, who stood behind him, eyes wide with fear.

Just when he thought the machines would fire, it was at that moment that a familiar black hedgehog burst into the chamber, hands clad in fiery gold Chaos and bearing the most unamused scowl he had ever seen.

The sudden sound made the robots turn towards the door, shifting their attention from the echidna and his charges to the newcomer. Shadow met the charging guns with a lopsided, feral smile, one that spelled doom for the emotionless machines. Knuckles didn't need to be a mind reader to know what was going on inside the ebony warrior's head.

He turned towards his charges and promptly grabbed them by the scruff of their necks before dragging them away from the swarm of robots -just in time as well, as the Ultimate Lifeform proceeded to unleash a concentrated Chaos Blast that sliced the tiny war machines to ribbons, leaving but a few behind. The volatile energy struck the assembly lines, caving in the outer hull of the heavy machinery and shredding the delicate parts within.

The metal creatures did not pause to mourn their fallen comrades, choosing to advance towards the newcomer with their sharp pincers raised thunderously. Their shift in attention caused their downfall however, as Knuckles leapt behind them and smashed several of the animal-shapes machines with each swing of his barbed fists.

The horde rapidly began to dwindle down as the machines struggled to split their attention between the two fighters. Each time one robot was struck down they turned towards the perpetrator, only to be forced to turn back towards the second warrior as he destroyed another of their numbers. Their programming were not very advanced by the clunky way they moved, and that proved to be a fatal disadvantage against the two organic beings, who exploited the flaw greedily.

Shadow's greeting was delivered with a voice as flat as steel, the ebony hedgehog a blur of obsidian as he plotted through the mass of metal, tearing the low-budget yet numerous machinery to shreds. "Echidna."

The Guardian gave his ally a light, brisk nod as he smashed another machine, quickly moving onto the next one. "You're alive. Congrats." He exclaimed, marching towards a advancing robot, who continued to blankly move forwards despite the approaching danger. A vicious punch was delivered to the crab's face, and it swayed, crumbling to the floor had Knuckles not kicked into the wall to finish it off.

"Same." Shadow muttered as he dispatched a group of the animal-like robots with a casual wave of his hand and a summoned fleet of Chaos Spears.

By now, very few of the machines were left in the aftermath of the onslaught, and their small numbers were quickly dwindling down. Knuckles was on a warpath, an eye on his two charges curled up in a corner and the other set on his victims. Metal shattered beneath his fists as he plowed through the creatures, eager to end it all and move to larger, worthier opponents.

His lust for battle nearly meant the end of it however, as he noticed too late a nearby broken machine at his feet suddenly jerking back to life and lunging towards his throat in a last, desperate attempt to eliminate him.

The sharp blade never reached him, oil suddenly coming to life from between the cracks in the fuel engine of the machine. It rose as a tendril of brown before striking down, wrapping itself around the pincer and tightening viciously, crushing the damaged weapon. The startled echidna looked around for the source of the miracle, noting how a certain black hedgehog was staring at something behind him.

The Guardian turned towards where Shadow was looking at; Knuckles blinked owlishly as he took in the sight of Rio kneeling next to a pool of oil, his left hand stuck deep into the murky substance. His expression was one of determined concentration, though the slight tears at the edge of his eyes told just how much the cyan mammal didn't like the situation he was currently in.

A tentacle of oil was arching out of the puddle, linking it to the broken machine that had tried to attack the echidna. Knuckles watched in confusion as the substance slowly fell down, answering to the power of gravity once more. The animal-shaped robot immediately slackened, freed of the iron grip that had crushed it beyond repair.

"You can control oil." The words were spoken with more disbelief than awe.

Judging by the lamenting howl that followed, it was also the last thing the carmine echidna should have said. "Water! I can control water!" Rio wailed, retracting his hand from the puddle of oil; the tendril that had prevented the crab-robot from slicing Knuckles' head apart immediately fell, inert. "Oh Chaos, why me?! Ugh, I hate all of this!" The mobian said miserably, curling into himself as he looked down sniffing softly.

This only made things worse however, as the spilled oil reflected the image of a battered creature with pitiful, dropping quills. Knuckles winced as the red eyes settled upon their owner's reflection, quickly widening at the horrifying sight.

"Oh Chaos!" The cyan hedgehog was pressed his face against the makeshift mirror within seconds, staring down in horror at his own appearance. Pale blue hands rose up and down the dirt-covered body, helplessly trying to get rid of the mud, water and dust as well as countless of other materials caking the once bright blue pelt. "I look terrible!" He sniffed, the cries of disgust beginning anew.

At this point, Knuckles felt like killing someone. Though murdering helpless idiots certainly wasn't something Tails or Sonic would approve of, the Guardian was starting to believe they could make an exception.

The said young mobian sobbed as he fell on his knees in front of his reflection, a cry of frustration and pain escaping him as he let his head fall upon the metal floor. His white-tipped, dotted quills fell flat against his forehead, both heavy from all the grime and reacting to their owner's mood. "I'm a monster! I can't believe how filthy I have become!"

"Who is he?"

"No idea. I found him living in the sewers."

Rio's heart-wrenching sobs became louder at that.

"It's okay, Mister!" Cream exclaimed as she rushed to the fallen hedgehog's side, awkwardly patting his back as he continued to cry at his misery. "When we get home I'll draw you a nice, hot bath and all of your worries will fly away!" Her soothing voice did nothing to quell the low screams the creature let out. "Oh dear...is there anything I can do to help?"

"Kill me now..."

"I would." Shadow spoke up, watching from a safe distance the scene with an indifferent expression. "Gladly."

xxxxxxx

If Eggman thought his plans were falling apart before, he was sure they were now six feet below the ground.

The Vulture had Sonic occupied; that was part of the plan. The part that wasn't part of the plan was it completely ignoring the rest of the bumbling fools, especially the woman that was now standing next to him pointing a sharp piece of metal at his throat while the stupid fox and the thieving bat were struggling to crack the lock of the Element Spirit's container. They even dared to try and break it open! The _audacity_!

It had taken so much time to design the cage by just mere observation of the future captive; it was an example of just how brilliant his mind was! And those fools tried to break his creation open like in some cheap movie! Absolutely unforgivable! Mark his words, he would make the insolent rats pay!

But first, that _ruddy_ bird had to return and take care of the rest of the idiots! Eggman was now regretting installing a personality on the machine; while the program made it smarter, it seemed to had hold a grudge when the blue annoyance has defeated it the first time around. The Vulture had gone straight after his nemesis, regardless of the fact it had left it's master relatively defenceless.

Maybe next time he should built more than one, and send them after the stupid hedgehog all at the same time! Yes, that would do nicely...!

...all those thoughts however jumped out of a window from a five-story building when a familiar black hedgehog all but exploded the already open door of the chamber...as well as most of the wall.

 _Oh bloody muffin._

Even Eggman knew to stay quiet after the concentrated Chaos Blast had turned a four inch thick wall of solid steel into a hissing, bubbling, liquified mess. The Ultimate Lifeform looked absolutely pissed; the creature was beyond ticked off as he walked into the room, obsidian fur crackling with a strange mix of gold, black and red that promised untold agony upon those who crossed paths with the bio-engineered weapon of mass destruction.

There was a reason Shadow was considered Gerald Robotnick's greatest creation, and it wasn't because of his ability to suck the life out of a room with a simple scowl.

"May I ask something, _before_ you try to violently murder me?" The scientist eeped from his chair as Topaz backed away, her gun still trailed at his head even though she knew the man wouldn't dare to move with the aggravated Ultimate Lifeform practically radiating malignant intent. He flinching as the burning ruby eyes settled on him, and for the thousandth time, the last Robotnick wondered why he had saved the creature from falling from space. The ebony hedgehog did not summon a spear of energy and tried to skewer him with it when he spoke, so Eggman took it as a sign to continue talking. "How did you find my base?"

"Oh please," Shadow sneered as he took a step closed, causing the human to frantically scramble back despite the fact he was sitting down. The action brought a light giggle out of Cream, and even Tails seemed to have trouble keeping himself from laughing. The fox quickly won the battle and snapped back to work. He was probably encouraged by the flat-eyed look a certain orange immortal gave him from within a bubble of glass. "The fact that you think you can hide is astounding, you hapless piece of gar-"

 **THUD.**

The sudden sound made everyone look up. Shadow wasn't the only one to frown at the sphere-shaped imprint on the chamber's remains of a roof.

"I'm okay!" A familiar voice shouted out from the outside, followed by a panicked squeal and the ear-splitting shriek of twisting metal that made several of the more delicate-eared mobians flinch. Even Shadow bristled at the horrid sound. The remains of the ceiling caved in, breaking apart like flimsy paper and spilling it's contents on the floor.

Sonic let out a quiet grunt as he collided with the barrier of his Ether Shield. He was relieved to feel it wrap itself around him, absorbing the fall. The fragile construct shook dangerously upon impacting the floor, flickering as it's creator strained to maintain it, the brutal collision creating a small crater.

A loud cry was heard from above as the Vulture descended upon it's prey, steel-tipped talons stabbing into the mass of Ether. Thankfully for Sonic the barrier held on, if not barely, stopping the claws from further sinking into the glimmering material. The azure speedster lay trapped beneath the winged titan, gritting his teeth as he fought to feed more and more Ether to the only thing stopping the giant machine from squashing him like a bug.

 _I should have trained more._

The Vulture spat out another mass of energy at the sphere, determined to eliminate it's content. It stepped on the bubble, pecking clawing at it, ruby eyes shinning brightly as it gathered Vhaos inside it's mouth for second blast. The Shield wobbled oddly at the impact, it's surface dulling and twisting as Sonic struggled to maintain it, teeth bared in concentration. His right side bled profusely at each blow, the dual energies within his body fighting to divide their attention between the wound the machine's claws caused and the caving sphere that was protecting their owner from the said beast.

Each repetitive, brutal blow of the energy beam and the serrated claws made something within Sonic break. The cobalt hedgehog tried to get up, but the robot's attempts at breaking the bubble sent ripples through it and made his arms and legs buckle and fail each time he tried to do so. The speedster grit his teeth as agony flared up from his chest. He needed to get away, soon, or the barrier would break and the giant robot would fall on him -as much as he was confident in his abilities, he didn't think his body would be able to survive several tons of metal suddenly collapsing atop of him.

Before he could act however, a sickening crunch echoed across the chamber as the Ether Shield finally collapsed. The blue speedster felt his body spasms at the shock of feeling of the sphere shattering, but despite the pain he managed roll aside, avoiding the three claws that threatened to slice him apart.

His saving grace finally arrived before the robot ended him, a wave of golden spears crashing onto the metal beast's right side and sending it crashing onto the floor. The avian machine was unable to fold it's left wing quickly enough, and could only shriek angrily as the appendage twisted oddly under the titanic weight of the construct.

Emerald eyes connected with ruby as the former's owner offered the ebony hedgehog a sheepish smile of gratitude. Shadow ignored him as he advanced towards the flailing robot, which was slowly getting back on it's feet, using the crushed wing as third leg. Glowing red cameras settled upon the carmine-striped warrior and the beast growled, low and menacing. It towered over it's newest opponent, the cobalt hedgehog slowly getting to his feet momentarily forgotten.

It proved to be a terrible miscalculation, as a blur of cobalt slammed onto the back of the beast's skull. The Vulture whirled it's head around, the shriek that begun bubbling out of it's beak cut short by a spear of gold light slamming into it's chest, cracking the case of the Chaos Emeralds. That grabbed it's attention immediately, purple growing within it's mouth before firing at Shadow with a terrifying explosion.

The Ultimate Lifeform was too fast for the machine, darting away just in time for the beam to dent the floor. The entire room shuddered as the Vulture fired off several other consecutive blasts, all missing the blur of ebony and riddling the chamber with holes.

"Stop messing around!" Eggman shouted from his chair, barely driving the hover chair into the ground as a beam of energy flew over his head, aiming for the red-striped male that had darted pass the scientist. The Vulture paused, recognizing the voice as the one of it's master. The momentary peace was broken by a certain sapphire hero hitting the left leg of the metal avian, causing it to fall forwards. The base shook under the weight of the titan.

 _This is getting dangerous._ Sonic turned towards his friends, noting with relief that Vicini had managed escape his container with the help of Tails. The apricot imp was watching his fight with worried blue eyes; their gazes met for the briefest of moments, but it was enough for the message to be sent through.

The Elemental Spirit grasped onto Tails' arm with one hand, while the other shot up and grasped Rouge. "Get around me!" The hedgehog exclaimed, gathering the rest of the group's attention. "We're getting out of here!"

Topaz shot Eggman one last, dirty look before walking over to the gathering group and holding onto one of the immortal's ears -the only thing she could reach without bending down. Vicini glowered at the pressure on his ear for a moment before looking away, scanning the room for the rest of the mobians. His eyes settled on a disgruntled mass of fur being dragged forwards by a equally disgruntled echidna, with a little rabbit in tow.

He made no move towards the cyan hedgehog, choosing instead to have the carmine Guardian hold onto his forearm. Cream timidly took one of Rio's hands, the taller mammal not complaining at the contact of her matted, dirty fur, as the girl was probably far cleaner than he was.

With a vibrant flash of light, the entire group was gone, leaving only two hedgehogs, a crazed human, and a particularly murderous robot.

* * *

 **Next chapter...BATTLE SCENE! Muahhahaha! Might as well throw in a little Sonadow too... Either way, Sonic's going to have a bit of a hassle in the next chapter.** **Next chap is also the last for this act, and I'll try to push it out this week so we can finally get on with the more interesting stuff. Act 4 is where the fun really begins, along with a bit of Sonadow and the plot for this first book.**


	18. Sleepy Head

**This chapter is certainly shorter than the last one, but meh, what can you do? I enjoyed making this one. The last chapter was a pain to do...**

 **Had to take a small break from writing, sorry guys. My dog was sick, I was sick, my house kept having a electrical shortage and I am swimming through a mountain of essays to do. Not to mention, I spent a week somewhere that didn't have wifi.**

* * *

Sonic had to hand it to Eggman. If there was one thing this newest creation of his was, it is resilient.

With a broken wing, a cracked camera and at the receiving end of several Spindash, Chaos Spear and even a single Chaos Blast -Sonic had to duck behind his rival for that last one, and even smacked the ebony hedgehog over the head for the sheer stupidity of the move, as part of the base was underwater, so melting the remained walls that held back thousands of gallons of water wasn't a very smart decision- the Vulture was still standing, growing madder at each new bump, scratch and broken limb it gathered while trying to crush the two warriors into bloody pulps.

The wings and tail were a real pain to deal with, as their edges were as sharp as razor and even the slightest contact with the appendages could shred through fur, skin and flesh with ease. Sonic had a large gash across his left thigh to prove it. His darker rival was better off, as Shadow's healing factor made wounds vanish before the hero's very eyes.

The amused glance the other gave at his gaping expression made him want to sock the ebony hedgehog in the face. It was too bad that the resulting bruise would last a mere hour.

Smug bastard.

Focusing on the machine stampeding across the room in a attempt to catch him, Sonic urged his legs to work faster, allowing him to run up the walls and around the metal menace. The Vulture's head followed his movements, serrated beak continuously reaching out to try and spear him through.

The sapphire speedster could tell that it's programming was struggling to catch up with his speed. Even with the added boost of the four Chaos Emeralds, it seemed as if it wouldn't be able to reach him as he zipped across the room's walls. So confident the Blue Blur was, he turned his head towards the creature and pulled his tongue out mockingly.

With a shriek of fury the avian lunged after him, ignoring Shadow who was trying to get it to fall over by slamming into it's legs with a Spindash. The Vulture, angry as it was -or what passed as angry for a machine- unfurled both of its wings and began flapping them wildly, propelling itself forwards despite the terrible state of its left wing.

Shadow was forced to back away as the sharp appendages threatened to tear him apart. The Ultimate Lifeform wasn't going to admit defeat however, gathering a massive amount of ambient Chaos into his hands; a orb the color of blood quickly forming between his palms. The dark hero could only smirk viciously before sending the shimmering projectile flying.

It crashed against the right ankle of the Vulture, making it stumble and fall over with a tremendous crash. The bird was quick to get up, but the talons of the damaged foot were twitching oddly, sparks coming off their connections with the frame. The machine turned it's sleek head towards Shadow, purple energy growing brighter and stronger within the needle-like beak of the being.

It was however, the opening a certain someone was waiting for.

The Vulture's charging attack was cut short by a pair of glimmering claws shredding through part of it's head, sending pieces of metal flying across the chamber. Sonic leapt away from the entity, the glow of the Ether Claws fading away as he struggled to maintain it in a atmosphere charged with so much Chaos energy.

The young blue hedgehog stumbled as he landed next to his darker rival; the ebony male having stopped his relentless attacks on the Vulture's legs in favor of watching it trip and trash around, a displeased scowl on his face.

"So what do you think?" The cerulean hero at his side exclaimed with a chirp, nudging the other with a elbow (though not persistently enough to revoke his living rights), smile broadening as the lack of vision caused their opponent accidentally slammed it's head into a wall, denting it.

"Amateurish." Shadow commented without missing a beat, his eyes rived on the giant bird struggling to move properly with half of it's skull missing. "I would have gone for the Emeralds' casing."

"...I can't do anything right in your eyes, can I."

Shadow's lips twitched with the hint of a smirk. "Couldn't you have done this sooner?"

 _Oh great, stomp on the corpse while you're at it._

The azure sapien shrugged nonchalantly, unperturbed by the massive robot stampeding around the room, eager to tear them to ribbons. "I could have, but I wouldn't be able to use it again." The blue hedgehog grimaced. "Too much ambient Chaos, and not the good kind. Stupid Egghead's messing with something he shouldn't." The taint of Negative Chaos was thick in the air, the Ether tightly coiled within his body struggling to protect him from the corrupt energy. Shadow was having it better, the ebony warrior's natural Positive Chaos easily warding off the darker variant.

A few feet away Eggman's creation screamed a loud metallic screech as it struggled to see it's small attackers; it trotted around, howling and flailing it's wings wide open, nearly tearing the head off it's master in the process.

"You useless piece of trash!" The Robotnick cried indignantly as he scrambled for the controls of his vehicle, trying to get away from the rampaging beast. His chair rose high above the Vulture as the scientist glowered at the construct. "Watch where your feet are going! They're the ones you have to squish, not me!" The death machine merely stared at him through half-cracked lends, sparks coming off the open sector of it's skull as it stared at it's creator with wide, empty eyes.

Sonic couldn't help but giggle at the hilarious sight, which earned him a smack behind the head by his ebony rival. He glared at the older male from the corner of his eyes, but did not retaliate, as their winged opponent had finally found them.

The Vulture craned it's head around towards them, it's programming quickly adapting to the lowered visibility and using sounds to locate it's targets. The bird shrieked when it found the two hedgehogs, energy growing within it's beak and strong violent sparks emerging from it's broken head as it got ready to fire.

Both males sped forwards, a blur of black going left while a blue one went for the right. The Vulture made it's decision quickly enough, following the louder sound of the roaring flames erupting from the bottom of Shadow's shoes instead of the light, precise tap tap tap of Sonic's feet across the room.

A long mechanical tail swept across the chamber, tearing large gashes on the walls as the blades running across the appendage sliced through the thick metal. Water burst forth from the thin gaps, slowly starting to flood the room -unconcerned of Eggman's cry of frustration. The floods turning into steam beneath Shadow, who had managed to leap over the Vulture's tail and was now headed towards the damaged side of the machine. He curled into a ball and slammed into the creaking flank, causing the metallic hull to bend inwards with his brute force.

Seeing this, the robot opened it's wings wide and fluttered them once, the winds produced destroying the forming curtain of steam and forcing the Ultimate Lifeform back. Shadow tried to rush back in for a blow to the beast's chest cavity, but the Vulture had anticipated his return and fired several beams of purple energy before taking to the air, much to the two hedgehogs' displeasure.

Sonic struggled to keep running across the flooded room, a scowl growing on his lips as he took in the situation. Eggman was flying out of the room via the ceiling -sadly, the door wasn't in useable condition- and the Vulture was pulling itself out of the devastated chamber, constantly firing shots of Negative Chaos over it's back in a attempt to catch them unaware. The cobalt speedster leaped up and stood on a pile of rubble, safe from the rising waters.

He spotted Shadow not far away, hovering above the water's surface with the aid of his shoes, the Ultimate Lifeform glaring up at the retreating bird in displeasure. Seeing his Chaos Emerald flying away certainly didn't put the darker male in the best of moods, that Sonic was sure.

The cobalt speedster raised a hand and waved furiously at the brooding mobian from his perch, catching his attention. Shadow glanced at him, then back at the damaged ceiling, his sullen expression deepening as he watched the Vulture make circles overhead, too far away for any of his attacks to reach.

The two rivals did not need to communicate to know that they needed to get out of here. Problem was, the only exit was up, as the door was beneath the water surface and the lower levels were probably flooded with aquatic life by now.

"Faker, get over here and give me your hand!"

"I didn't know we progressed that far." Sonic shouted back, blinking innocently at the fuming male who glared murder at him. The ebony warrior scowled, hands sparking with gold energy as he began gathering energy in a way that was very familiar to the jade-eyed hero. "W-Wait, you're not gonna leave me -Shads!" The faker certainly wasn't going to do it was he?!

"Chaos.."

 _Fuck._ He cursed, his mind going into overdrive as he felt his fur stand on end, unsettled by the amounts of Chaos the other was gathering. _Oh fuck. He really is._ The cobalt hedgehog lunged forward at his companion at top speed, a gloved hand catching a red-streaked arm just in time, a flash of green light leaving him blinded.

"Control!"

When the sapphire hero came to, however, he found that his face was stuffed into the ground, with the rest of his body sprawled atop of a certain dark hedgehog, the said grump not having expected the unexpected passenger.

Not to mention he could hear familiar voices giggling like _schoolgirls_ in the background.

(Shadow certainly wasn't the only one in the revenge list now.)

xxxxxxxxxx

"Water!"

Of all things that could have occurred, Knuckles wasn't expecting Rio to lunge towards the lake as soon as the temporary daze and disorientation that followed teleporting went away. The carmine echidna watched with a raised eyebrow as the cyan hedgehog leapt at the skies, carelessly bellyflopping into the cold waters of the crystalline lake.

Due to his small stature, the mobian barely made any waves as he vanished into the depths of the lake, but even then the Guardian noticed from the corner of his vision Vicini's grimace as droplets of liquids splattered across his fur. The apricot immortal slowly edged away from the shore, preferring to get as far away from the water as he could.

A happy chirp drew his attention back to the shore as Cream leapt in after Rio, the dust and sot clinging to her fawn pelt dispersing as she sunk up to her neck into the lake, uncaring of the frigid temperatures. The young rabbit's long, strained ears floated behind her, following their owner like a pair of pigtails as she splashed water over to the cyan male, who was frolicking within the shallow waters in a attempt to get rid of every single bit of dirt and grime that had gathered on him. The luminous orb was still held tightly against his chest, secured against the blue pelt by the hedgehog's left hand.

Knuckles couldn't stop the small smile growing on his lips as a giggling Cream began chasing the older creature. Rio darted through the shore with the skills of a aquatic mobian, his fur sparkling almost unnaturally under the brilliant light of the sun. His crest quills were up again, no longer dropping sadly, revealing white tips with a single dot of bright purple on each of them. His joy was evident, his laughter mingling with that of the little rabbit as they finally got rid of the dust and sot that clung to their pelts.

Feeling a tiny bit self-conscious, the red echidna looked down at himself. He noted with a grimace that his fur had turned into a dull shade of brown. Was that green he saw on his knees? Yeah, this was it. He might as well join them.

The master of Angel Island slowly walked into the lake up to his chest, uncaring of how wet and heavy his shoes and gloves became. They could resist the poor treatment, and the sharp razors on each of his namesakes were too dangerous without the thick, protective layer of cotton. Gathering water in his hands, the mobian leaned in and began washing his face, careful to not poke his eyes out with his own weapons. He then moved to his dreadlocks, making quick work of the dirt hidden in the thick fur before turning his attention to his chest. The white crescent moon had turned grey, and the sorry sight made him sneer.

Cream and Rio continued to chase each other, making circles around the echidna. The rabbit managed to snag the long purple quill sticking out the back of the hedgehog's head and reeled him in, the cyan male yelping in surprise at the sharp tug. His yelp of pain turning into a fit of laughter as Cream began tickling him.

Knuckles watched them from the corner of his eyes, not wanting to risk their lives in a moment of carelessness. He knew that Eggman's base was less than a mile away, right in the middle of the lake -prune metal spires sticking out from the opaque waters were a good indicator. Smoke was coming out from the top of the largest tower, and the echidna's keen eyes were quick to notice small beams of purple energy tearing through the structure, thankfully dissipating after a few feet. If the spears of Negative Chaos persisted, Knuckles would have dragged both of his charges into the woods and far away from the fight.

Hopefully, the two hedgehogs would take care of the ruddy bird quickly.

Then again, maybe not. He took notice of the large black shape exiting the top of the massive tower. He bit his lower lip, his fists tightening with the urge to rip the metal monstrosity apart. The way Eggman defiled the power of the sacred stones let a bitter taste in his mouth, and the echidna was left wanting to go up there and rip the gems out of the machine's chest.

Unfortunately he was unable to fly; Knuckles did not have wings like Rouge. The most he could do was create a flat surface with his Chaos energy, which caught air and allowed him to glide. It was something every Guardian of the Master Emerald could do, a basic manipulation of Chaos that he could do in his sleep.

A loud cheer drew Knuckles' attention to those who decided to stay on the shore; Tails was running away from the lake, towards a familiar purple plane parked by the forest border. The echidna let out a relieved sigh as he saw the vehicle, the metallic purple shell of the original Tornado gleaming proudly under the light of the midday sun. It certainly was a good sight for his sore eyes.

A pair of familiar humans and a pink hedgehog were standing guard next to it, Chris giving the approached fox, bat and hedgehog a small wave as they began the small walk towards the vehicle.

He was too far to heard what they were saying beyond incoherent mumbling, so the Guardian quickly stepped out of the lake. Cream and Rio paused in their chase, the rabbit swimming for her life as the cyan male manipulated the small splashes of water the girl sent his way into turning against their creator, and while it was a amusing and lighthearted sight, Knuckles knew it was time to leave.

"Rio, Cream, that's enough." Two heads snapped his way, perplexed and wondering. The ruby mobian gestured the shore behind him. Cream let out a excited gasp as she spotted the Tornado. "We should get going." Knuckles walked out of the lake, the two following him like a pair of ducklings, pausing as they came out of the water to shake off the water clinging to their pelts.

Rio looked far healthier after his swim in the lake, his brightly coloured fur gleaming under the sunlight as he stood at the shore digging his toes into the sand. A childish, pleased smile stretched over the pale lips of the male as he rejoiced in the innocent act, happiness radiating from every pore on his body. Cream was in a similar state, a happy grin on her small face despite how heavy her dress had become.

The Guardian waited for them to finish cleaning up before sending them towards the purple plane. He trailed after them, keeping an eye on the chaos unfolding less than a mile away. The beams of purple light were getting more and more frequent, and most of the towers sticking out of the surface of the lake had collapsed or disappeared behind a curtain of smoke. What the hell were those imbeciles doing?!

A shout brought him out of his indignant thoughts -which may or may not have included a vision of him slowly choking both Sonic and Shadow- and to his luck, the two buffoons were stretched out a few feet away from the Tornado. Sonic looked mildly dazed, and the darker hedgehog was at the other end of the emotional spectrum, with a slight crackle of golden energy around his fists a indication of his want to tear the Blue Blur a new one. Knuckles did not blame him.

"I'm going to kill you, hedgehog."

Please do so.

"You can't even hit me with your stupid glitter shit." Sonic babbled defensively, quickly rolling off his rival. Shadow's glare grew as a result. "What makes you think you can defeat me?"

"Hey, twinsies. I don't know about you, but the thought of Robotnick staying with those Emeralds makes me queasy." Twin coughs were heard as the two hedgehogs struggled to get air back into their lungs. Rouge stood there, looming over them with her arms crossed, unaffected by the vicious glares the two males gave her. "Aren't you two going to do something about it?"

"I can fly just fine, the only problem is if Shads can follow..." Sonic trailed off teasingly, winking mischievously at the said disgruntled hedgehog.

The ebony male ignored the comment, the slight balling of his hands the only sign of his increasing urge to punch his younger rival in the face. "Can you get me up there?" The Ultimate Lifeform asked his winged companion.

Rouge huffed as a response, crossing her arms. "I'm sorry, do I look like a fighter jet to you?" The female bat jeered sarcastically, ending the topic right there and then.

"Poor Shads, he can't go anywhere without his girlfriend." The menacing glint in Rouge's eyes was enough to send him back peddling. While her legs were far from being as strong as his own, the GUN agent was more than capable of tearing through metal with them. "In any case," He slowly walked towards the shore, a small glint of iridescent slowly growing around his hands. "I'll get going; I can transform and deal with the birdy."

Shadow's eyes narrowed at the younger hero. "Wasn't it that you couldn't use Ether energy at the moment?"

The cobalt hedgehog waved him off. "I'm out of that crappy hole Eggman decided to hide his dignity in, so I'll be fine." Which was true. The air was felt less heavy than before; the oppressive weight of the Negative Chaos on his shoulders having lessened with him leaving the premises of the underwater base. "I didn't know you cared so much, though!"

His only answer was the scorching of the grass he was standing on, the blue hedgehog leaping aside as a Chaos Spear sent by his rival threatened to immolate him.

Chuckling in amusement but not quite ready to meet his end, the cobalt hedgehog turned around and shifted, body turning into a shimmering light show of colours as it shrunk and morphed, quickly taking a different shape. The slow rumble echoing behind him was sign that someone had started the Tornado's rotors, and the thought made him smile -well, if he had a mouth at the moment.

Apricot wings tipped with ruby spread wide as the imp shot off into the open skies, matching blue eyes narrowed with concentration. A trail of visible heat followed after him, marking his ascension. The sensation of sudden flight was a bit disorienting for the hero, as he was one used to keeping his feet on the ground. He quickly suppressed the sudden sense of vertigo as gravity's effects upon him were nullified; shooting up high above the lake, climbing higher and higher until he zipped past a certain scientist's bloated nose.

"What the...?" Taken off guard by the blur of peach flying circles around his vehicle, it took a moment for Eggman to realize what was happening. When he did, his moustache twitched and his eyebrows were set low on his face, eyes hidden behind dark glasses narrowed as their owner trembled with rage. "Get him!" The human yelled over the roaring of the Vulture's heavy wing beats.

The metal beast dove after the small orange imp, fragmented beak snapping at the tip of the creature's bushy tail as the construct failed to catch up to it's smaller, more agile opponent. Sonic flew low against the surface of the lake, pushing to the back of his mind his fear of falling into the cold waters in exchange of focusing on the task at hand. Explosions echoed behind him as the Vulture tried to shoot him out of the sky with the power of the Chaos Emeralds, beams of purple streaking by the shapeshifter as he flew over the waves created by the impact of the Negative Chaos against the water surface.

The Vulture was so concentrated on trying to snap him in half with it's serrated beak that it nearly didn't notice the hail of bullets colliding against it's broad back. The bird paused in surprise, nearly hitting the lake as it's wings faltered. This enabled Sonic to get away of the thing's range and turn around, flying by it's flank, as the machine was now looking up; it quickly spotted the stocky purple plane flying overhead.

The Vulture let out a low, mechanical snarl at the sight of the small plane before kicking it's jets and wings into overdrive and flying up in a straight line.

Drat! Sonic struggled to catch up, his mouth opening as he let loose a thick stream of fire at the Vulture's legs and long tail. The edges of the machine became hot red from the high temperatures, and several slabs of metal slipped off and fell into the lake below. The fire imp was forced to dodge as a piece of alloy slammed into his head, nearly breaking one of his horns as it bounced off.

Shaking his head in a attempt to get rid of the daze that followed the collision, Sonic watched as the Vulture chased after the Tornado. Tails was too good of a pilot however, easily dodging the streaks of purple the gigantic bird sent his way despite the bulkiness of his vehicle.

A blur of black leapt off one of the plane's wings and collided against the Vulture's chest with enough force to make the beast falter. The robot roared, dropping into a free dive as Shadow used a Chaos Spear to try and break the chassis that contained the Chaos Emeralds. The Ultimate Lifeform remained unperturbed as a small, familiar orange slammed into one of the Vulture's wings, denting it and sending the machine spiralling out of control.

That idiot. He clung to the edges of the Emeralds' container, a growl leaving him as the glass-like material wrapped around the mythical stones refused to break. He's going to get me killed if this keeps up. The dark warrior stabbed the Chaos Spear several times in the same place, just above the red Emerald; Shadow was mildly irritated to see a sizeable crack begin to appear on the smooth surface of the box. By the time he got the Emeralds freed however the dark hero knew that the robot he was perched on would have crashed into the lake. If it wasn't the collision that killed him...

"Incoming!"

 _Bloody hell._

It was by sheer self-surviving instinct that Shadow rolled aside, barely holding onto one of the Vulture's duller spines with one hand as a blur of cobalt rammed into the Chaos Emeralds' container. The glass nest shattered into pieces beneath the hedgehog's sneakers, sending the shimmering gems flying across the clear sky.

The Emeralds seemed to defy gravity as they slowly fell down to earth; beams of yellow, cyan and green landed safely near shore, but to the ebony hedgehog's displeasure, his Chaos Emerald crashed into the deeper parts of the lake, right next to Robotnick's collapsing base.

"If you don't go fish it out now, hedgehog, you're dead meat." Shadow scowled at his rival, who returned the furious expression with one of sheepishness as they continued to fall like rocks, heading towards the icy waters.

The Vulture had turned into a dead weight, the large wings of the bird beating no more with the source of it's energy gone. The long neck and damaged head flopped wildly in the roaring winds, the ample flexibility of the appendage causing it to quiver and flail wildly, the movements becoming quicker and quicker as the speed continued to pick up.

Both Shadow and Sonic let go seconds before impact, curling up into tight, resilient balls of spines that smashed against the water's surface with enough force to make their bones rattle.

They bounced several times before finally sinking into the lake. Shadow began making his way to the shore immediately, but Sonic flailed about for a moment before realizing where he was and that if he panicked, things would only get worse.

"Hey, Shads, can you give me a hand?" The speedster exclaimed, struggling to keep his head out of the water as fear began taking hold of his limbs, paralyzingly the poor hedgehog. Technically speaking he could swim -Tails had forced him to learn the basics- but Sonic's hatred of water would always get in the way, making him imitate a rock each time he touched the vile substance.

"No." He should have expected that response. Shadow looked as if he had swallowed a lemon. "I won't help you until you return my Emerald."

"But I'm not the one who stole it!"

"You are however the reason why Robotnick decided to ambush us." Shadow retorted. "Now get to the shore already. You can at least do that."

Sonic felt his lips curl up in a feral snarl of fury. Is he calling me useless? For some reason, this made him more angry than any other insult the ebony warrior had sent his way. He glared at his companion's back as if expecting the thick black fur to suddenly go up in flames -regardless of the fact they were in a lake.

 _You can at least do that._ The words repeated themselves over and over in his head, making him growl.

He was **_not_ ** useless.

A pair of jade orbs narrowed.

 _Screw this._

A ebony head whirled around at the sound of a resounding splash, ruby eyes catching the glimpse of long blue legs before the owner of the said limbs disappeared under the murky waters.

The sight was enough to send the Ultimate Lifeform into a mild panic. "You idiot!" _What is that fool doing?! He can't swim!_ Shadow stuck his head underwater and tried to locate his counterpart, but the lake was filled with debris, and he could barely see the tip of his own nose -spotting a tiny blue hedgehog was unlikely.

 _Is he going to search for the Emerald?_ While his comment had been insulting, Shadow did not regret it. Most of what had happened today was a result of the blue idiot. He was surprised however that the younger hero was going through with his demand. The Ultimate Lifeform guessed that being called useless had been the last straw for the cobalt speedster.

It didn't mean that Sonic's actions were justified.

 _Even that ridiculous determination of his wasn't going to last long._ _Not when the reality catches up to him and he remembers where he is._ Shadow's head breached the surface and he took ample gulps of air. _Nor when he runs out of breath._ His feet kicked beneath him, struggling to maintain his weight, especially with the heavy metal shoes and rings he wore.

To find Sonic and drag the imbecile back up, he needed someone who could both swim quickly and be able to navigate through this wreckage.

Ruby eyes narrowed, fixating onto a speck of azure and white on the shore. _That strange hedgehog from before. He can control water._ It was unlikely that the creature couldn't swim with that ability. The ebony warrior sprung around and began swimming faster towards the shore, red orbs narrowed on the unknowing cyan male.

xxxxxxx

Not that he would ever voice it out, but Sonic might be starting to have second thoughts.

The pungent taste of water was strong on his tongue, nearly making him gag. His stubborn will was the only thing keeping the blue male from spilling out his breakfast, and even then it was a chore. Sonic looked around through narrowed green eyes, using the smallest bit of Chaos within himself to detect the location of the fourth Emerald.

The Blue Blur wasn't like his rival, who could detect even the slightest amount of Chaos from a mile away; he still made do with what he had however. Sonic spend several years urging his meaner reserves of Chaos to locate the mythical stones. It wasn't about to fail him now.

But the whole 'being underwater next to a building that's collapsing on me' was putting a damper on things.

And so was his aquaphobia.

He'd ignored it when he first dived into the lake. It was creeping ever closer now, the dreadful sensation of irrational fear climbing over his shoulders and sending painful shivers down his spine. The cobalt speedster tried to focus on his task, pushing back the growing sense of dread to search for the shimmering jewel.

A sliver of red caught his attention, slowly sinking towards the darkness of the riverbed. Sonic propelled himself forwards with his powerful legs, kicking them a bit recklessly, but the movement was slowly allowing him to come to the gem's level. The azure hero reached out for the Emerald, a slow smile spreading on his lips as his hand closed around the perfect facets of the priceless stone. The smooth gem glimmered against his palm, the carmine artifact a familiar comfort in such a hostile environment.

Now it was time to go back up, preferably before he passed out from lack of oxygen.

Stuffing the red Chaos Emerald into the safety of his razor sharp quills, Sonic righted his body, eyes looking up towards-

He could only watch as the water parted above him, a boulder the size of a car suddenly plummeting down straight towards him, sinking too quickly for him to move out of the way.

 _...fucking_ **knew** _it._

The giant stone smashed against his head and Sonic knew nothing but darkness.

xxxxxxxxxx

"Where's Sonic?"

"He decided he would go look for the Emerald." The in the lake was left out, but seeing as Knuckles was holding all three Emeralds that had managed to land safely on land, it didn't take much of a stretch for the mobians to figure out what he meant.

The expressions they gave him were of horror. They knew that the Fake could not swim. As Shadow guessed, a certain over-emotional someone was quick to accuse him.

 _"And you didn't stop him?!"_ The shriek of fury was enough to spurn him into moving.

 _Would you look at that._ A living pink marshmallow was suddenly in his face, and it took a moment for Shadow's eyes to adjust to the intensity of the colour. He managed just in time to dodge a familiar carmine and yellow hammer from slamming down on his skull.

...he knew that the girl was strong, but _damn_ , watching the weapon create a small crater made something within the black hedgehog wince and loudly protest about ever crossing paths with the pink demon again.

"Amy, stop it! Beating up Shadow isn't going to help matters!" The blond human -Chris- scolded as he put a hand on the handle of the hammer, stopping the pink devil from raising it from the hole she had made.

The pink hedgehog turned furious yet confused eyes towards her captor. "But-"

"I suggest we focus on getting the blue idiot back before trying to kill each other." Shadow interjected with a dry tone, eyeing the weapon in the pinkette's hands with distrust. "He could be drowning right now for all we know." His attacker blanched at that.

"I could go in." Chris offered, letting go of Amy's weapon and reaching for the zip of his hoodie, not wanting the article of clothing to get wet and weight him down. He earned several frown from the mobians. "What?"

"It's too dangerous."

"What else can we do?!"

 _ **CRASH!**_

The ground shook violently as the explosion nearly knocked them off their feet. Heads turned at the loud, sudden blast of sound, Shadow even going as far as moulding a single Chaos Spear in his right hand.

They could only watch as the rest of Eggman's base finally toppled, the damage it had suffered during the fight with the Vulture too much for it handle, the rubble thrown high into the air by the explosion crashing into the lake. This caused massive waves to form as the pieces -some the size of a small house- fell into the body of water.

Thick, black smoke rose from the crumbled remains of the building, and ravenous, gigantic flames reached up to the sky, fed by the highly inflammatory substances the base's creator was prone to using for his machines. This made the fire uncontrollable, and more than one mobian swore they could feel the heat of the fire from the shore.

"Shit!" Knuckles wasn't the only one letting out a foul curse as he witnessed Eggman's base finally crumble away. He tensed with the urge to lunge forward and dive into the lake, but his mind was quick to catch up and point out that by the time he got there, the idiot would have been dragged to far into the body of water for the Guardian to reach him.

"Rio! Go fetch him!" Vicini shouted, the fire imp besides himself as his voice reached new levels of panic. Knuckles barely registered the echoing splash as the said male leaped into the water without pause, disappearing beneath the murky waters with debilitating ease.

xxxxxxxxxxx

 _"For the fastest thing alive, you sure are slow today!"_

 _"Stop joking around, Manic!" He hissed, emerald eyes glaring at the green hedgehog running at his side. "Do you want Robotnick to catch us?!"_

 _The cobalt speedster winced as his left leg flared with pain, the cut muscles protesting loudly against the constant exertion. He swore that the robots had aimed at his legs on purpose. With the bleeding and flesh injuries that littered the injured limb, Sonic was left unable to run faster than a average mobian._

 _The brothers abruptly turned left into a darker, smaller alleyway, Manic leading the charge as his smaller sibling followed obediently. The street boy darted left and right, expertly twisting and turning deeper and deeper into the bowels of the city, his smirk growing as the sound of alarms grew fainter. Nobody tried to ask or stop them as they rushed through the alleys like maniacs, eager to get away from Robotnick's greedy hands._

 _Manic suddenly pulled the cobalt child into a abandoned house and forced him in the basement, where the thick stone walls would protect them from the machines' scanners. Sonic complied, gritting his teeth as to not cry out in agony as his legs screamed for mercy._

 _They quickly walked down the stairs leading to the small basement, the blue hedgehog leaning heavily on the older male as he struggled to walk. Reaching the bottom of the stairway, Manic guided him to one of the corners of the room, where they sat down next to each other._

 _"How's your leg?"_

 _"Peachy." He muttered as he slid down against the wall, landing on his bottom. He winced as he struggled to fold his legs. The limbs flared with agony, forcing a tiny whimper out of their owner's fawn lips._

 _"That doesn't sound good." Manic chided, tilting his head at the azure child._

 _"No shit." Sonic jeered, his ears flattening against his head as he examined the wounds, getting his teeth as the limbs flared with pain._

 _"Sonia will tear your head off if she hears you curse."_

 _"I'll tell her you're a bad influence." The blue hedgehog retorted blandly._

 _"Mhhm. Let me look at your leg."_

 _His blue sibling growled, but nevertheless complied to the professional thief's command. Sonic scooted closer to the emerald male, scowling as the other carefully grabbed one of his legs and began examining the puncture wounds._

 _"Damn." The green hedgehog lightly traced the inflamed wounds of his sibling, earning a hiss from his companion. "They got you good this time." His tone of voice was no longer light, clouded with worry as he pulled a cloth out of his backpack. "Their aim is getting better."_

 _Knowing what was about to happen, Sonic watched with a grimace as his brother searched around the sachet. The bullets could be pulled later when they were at a secure location; stopping the blood flow was more a priority because frankly, he wanted to keep his limbs._

 _"Be careful!"_

 _"Don't worry dear, my oafish hands won't bruise your pretty little legs."_

 _Had he been in a better condition, Sonic could have punched the fool on the face. Since he wasn't, the young hedgehog settled on glaring at his brother with enough fury to set water on fire._

 _Manic, being the asshole he was, responded to his scowl with the one thing he hated the most._

 _The damn bastard poked him on the nose._

Sonic felt like screaming out in frustration as the frigid waters filled his nostrils and wormed their way into his ears. He looked around through bleary eyes, struggling to stay awake. He could barely see with the particles of dust and metal whirled around him. The azure hero could feel the rising pressure upon his body, threatening to send him into unconsciousness once more.

The dazed young was being dragged down towards the river bed by the rubble sitting atop of him, where he would be likely squashed like a grape once he reached rock bottom. He tried to slide off the side of the rubble but it was too sharp, the metal structure's edges digging into his flesh and keeping him still as it dragged it's captive deeper into the darkness.

Just when Sonic was about to start panicking, he felt a tight hold on one of his wrists, jerking him forwards. The blue hedgehog almost groaned as the huge weight on his back disappeared, leaving behind a soreness that was unlikely to leave in the next following days.

He kicked his legs wildly, hindering more than helping his saviour propel the both of them upwards. The growing pressure on his head caused by his descent was beginning to weaken, making him less lightheaded.

The young hero broke the water's surface with a loud gasp, his mouth opening to greedily gulp down the much needed gallons of air he had been deprived off during his aquatic mishap.

Rio let out a squeak as the arms around his neck threatened to break his spine. He forced his quills to relax, for as much as he hated the vice-grip on his neck, sawing the drowning hedgehog's arms off was not a good idea. "Stop giving me so much trouble-"

"Lookout!" Sonic managed to get a arm free and shove his captor beneath the water before going down himself as a piece of rumble fell atop of them, the sharp edges of what used to be part of a wall digging into their sides, pulling them deeper into the dark water. Sonic flailed in the water, panicking once more as the pressure increased. It felt as if his head was being torn open, and he had to bite his lower lip to not gasp and lose his previous oxygen.

Rio remained confident however, the cyan hedgehog pulling him along, away from the sinking piece of rubble. They had been dragged pretty deep into the lake, and the Blue Blur was starting to see black spots in his vision. He persisted however despite being surrounded by his greatest fear, determined to not fall unconscious...especially here.

Kicking his legs, he sluggishly helped his companion propel them upwards, narrowly dodging the sinking pieces of metal and stone as more and more sections of Eggman's base collapse like a pile of cards.

"Stop trying to swim. Your kicking is hinderance." His reluctant saviour hissed the moment their heads poked out of the lake. Sonic glared as a result; the normally shy hedgehog was having none of it. He was more experienced in this element than the terrified hero. "Go limp! I'll carry you. You're light enough."

Sonic felt as if that was an insult. "I can swim just _fine_ -"

"-using the rock style, so now _shush_." The cyan male finished flatly, confident in his element as he began swimming to the shore. The younger hedgehog helped him as much as he could, kicking his powerful legs while keeping both arms wrapped around the neck of his ally. Sonic's attempt at swimming was pitiful next to Rio; it was comparing the desperate doggy-paddle of a drowning cat to the graceful movements of a energetic dolphin.

They quickly made their way towards land, Sonic kicking his legs into high gear as soon as his shoes touched the sandy, algae-filled bottom of the lake. Rio tried to let him go as he felt himself being tugged forwards, but his reflexes were not as sharp as the panicked, exhausted blue hedgehog, and by the time he registered that it would be a nice idea to let go, they were already on the beach, with Sonic looking ready to kiss the ground in relief.

A rumbling roar echoed across the shore as the Tornado landed nearby; the blue hedgehog paid no mind to it however, too busy coughing a lung and a half as he stood there, hands on his knees, relishing the fact that he was on land again and out of the murky lake.

Despite what others thought, he could live without his ego. Well...at least he hoped. Breathing was a bit more important.

A shade loomed over him, drawing the sapphire's eyes. Sonic looked up, only to wince at the scorching glare Shadow gave him. If anyone could kill with a simple glance, it would be his rival. The mobians around them were silent, sufficiently cowed by the murderous expression on the ebony warrior's face. Even Amy, as fiery as her personality was, looked mildly intimidated.

Sonic felt his ears fold down slightly. Guess I can't count on her hammer to get me out of trouble. At any moment Shadow would explode, and the Blue Blur wasn't sure he could take on the other while cold and soaked to the bones.

Thankfully, he had something that could distract the irked hedgehog.

"Why did you do that, imbecile-"

The biting tone of the Ultimate Lifeform trailed off as he stared down at the glimmering red jewel presented to him by a sheepish hedgehog. Sonic shifted uneasily in front of his rival, still feeling a bit lightheaded from his underwater trip, a cocky, self-satisfied grin slowly growing on the fawn lips at the wide-eyed expression the normally stoic obsidian male offered him.

He should have brought a camera. The face his counterpart made was one he was unlikely to forget anytime soon.

"I got the Emerald. Who's _useless_ now?" The arrogant voice was enough to snap Shadow out of his stupor and a low rumble escaped him as he snatched the shimmering stone away from the smaller hedgehog. With a last glance at the smug hero, the miffed GUN agent walked away. Rouge, who had been standing by idly, waiting for the conflict to be resolved, glanced between the two hedgehog before shrugging and following after her friend.

Sonic let out a sigh as the older mobian left. Honestly, he had been bracing himself for a punch in the face. While Shadow liked to deny it, they had struck up a rather odd companionship; the young hero could bet his legs that the reason the darker hedgehog had been so bothered by his actions was due to how quickly he had dived into the lake -his worst fear- just to get the Ultimate Lifeform to take back his words.

A childish part of him wanted to pull his tongue out at the retreating immortal, to mock him further, but Sonic _knew_ that Shadow always carried a knife on him and he wasn't above cutting limbs. The blue hedgehog felt as if he had pushed his luck enough for today.

He turned to the rest of his companions, his smile growing larger and more sheepish as he took in their expression of anger, worry and irritation. Sonic sauntered over to them, taking care to stray away from Knuckles, as he was the more violent of his friends, therefor the most likely to try and punch him in the face.

"So, shall we go?" He gestured the plane, then the remains of Eggman's base. The said madman had deserted the lake a long time ago, not wanting to be in the receiving end of the mobians' wrath. Sonic didn't blame him. Amy could be scary. "I don't think there's much left to do here." A sinister crack was heard as another part of the building collapsed, almost as if to prove the younger hedgehog's point.

A small ripple of wind followed the crash, ruffling the fur of the mobians and the hair of the lone human. Sonic was the only one who managed to keep a straight face after the crash, his wide grin contrasting with the grimaces his friends offered.

"Well, I'm off." It was Rio who broke the silence, the normally quiet male's exhausted sigh catching the attention of the group. "Cream, dear, I'll take you up for that bath later. If you make cookies."

The rabbit nodded wisely, her pet Chao letting a low chirp from her frail shoulder. "Carrot and vanilla?"

"Add some almond to it."

"Good choice. I'll ask my mom to help."

 _"How long have you two been talking?!"_

"Enough." Rio said over his shoulder. He turned to Knuckles, who's expression became wary at the sudden attention he got from the smaller mammal. "Thanks for the save, echidna! I don't know what I would have done if I spent another day in that hell!" Rio wrapped his arms around the echidna's neck in a mock hug, one that was quickly released when the ruby warrior growled warningly.

"...it's Knuckles."

"Who names their kit Nuzzles...?" The unamused Guardian bend down slightly, looking as if he was going to pick up a handful of dirt and toss it at the smaller creature. Rio immediately backtracked. "Kidding!" He was not quick enough, a cry of terror escaping him as the dirt stained his clean fur a dark shade of blue.

"Why are you leaving anyways?" Chris asked the unknown hedgehog who was hastily brushing the grime off himself, the unusual, eyesore fur of the being catching his attention. He suddenly frowned at the strange creature and stepped closer to Rio, his confused expression deepening. "Wait a second..."

"I know I'm pretty, but-"

"You continue that phrase and I'm _caking_ you in dirt." Chris interrupted without pause, his warning making the cyan male's eyes widen comically. "I'm sure that shade of fur is next to impossible..." The blue eyes of the teenager wandered down to the hedgehog's chest, his face thoughtful as he glanced at the young rabbit standing nearby, holding a large, crystalline orb with care. "...and that is pretty damming." Chris pointed at Cream, who stared at the finger in bemusement. "By the way, why aren't you breathing?" Rio blinked, his eyes widened and then took in a deep breath that made Sonic's eyes roll. Chris whirled towards the soaked sapphire hedgehog, eyes blazing with accusation. "And why didn't you tell us?!"

The smirk was truly impish. "You actually figured it out! Congrats!" He turned to the rest of the group and scowled. "None of you noticed it before. Shame on you."

"How were we supposed to know, hedgehog?" Shadow sneered from the back of the group, irritated by his rival's attitude.

This time it was the newcomer that spoke up. "You've been around that fire creature for a while." The creature exclaimed, winking. He bowed deeply, his grin widening at Cream's giggle. "It is about time I introduce myself. I am Rio, the Element Spirit of Purity, but I'm sure that the fire imp already told you that." It seemed as if his confidence had returned now that he was clean. Vicini bristled at Rio's nickname, but the smaller male continued, unperturbed, his grin growing larger. "In any case, now that I'm free, I'm _out_ of here."

"Are you sure?" Sonic chirped. "We had a epic party going on before Eggy decided to show up, maybe we could-"

 _ **"No."**_

The azure hedgehog frowned and looked on to the source of the command in confusion. "Why no?" He asked the sole human, Chris, who seemed about to pop a blood vessel.

"We are going straight home after this." The teenager hissed threateningly.

"Why?"

"Because I sit my arse in a plane for five hours just to spend a few more hours sitting on a clearing eating sandwiches."

"Hey! Those are good sandwiches and you know it."

"It doesn't matter." Chris replied with a growl, stabbing a index finger towards the Tornado. "We are going home. Get your ass in there, now."

"One thing." Rio called out once more, gesturing for Sonic to step closer. The blue hedgehog did so obediently. "Cream." The rabbit obediently extended her arm towards the cyan male, revealing the large, glimmering orb that seemed to swallow her limb. Rio picked it up as if it was a newborn, before turning to the confused blue hedgehog and extending his hand in offering. "Here. Take it."

"Huh? Are you sure about this?" Sonic remarked, eyeing the the gem with surprise. "You guys used to tell me stories about all the shit you forced the other Holders through just to get the location of your hearts, so why are-"

"I nearly lost it, and for my poor heart I won't even try to count how many times it nearly broke today alone." Rio looked faintly sick at his own words. "Have at it. It's safer with you." The younger hedgehog was still hesitating, but a small glare from the usually skittish immortal made him reach out and grab the Core.

Sonic carefully held the large sphere, tilting his head in a bird like manner as he examined the glimmering object. "I've never absorbed a Core before." He admitted softly, rubbing a finger against the artifact, letting his Ether brush against the orb. It immediately lit up, the faint, glossy colors shifting to a bright, nearly blinding rainbow, turning the small gem into a eyesore for the mobians except Sonic, who continued to turn it over and examine the patterns of colors with interest, unperturbed of the bright coloration. Rio twitched, but otherwise remained silent, watching the younger hedgehog handle the Core with care. "Nobody besides Vicini, but that doesn't count."

The said hedgehog looked faintly insulted.

"It's strange at first, but you'll gain some resistance."

 _Resistance? Of what?_

In any case, this _might_ be fun. Sonic smiled softly as he held the colourful sphere, his grin growing as the Ether within it reacted with his own. Strands of light exploded out of the Core and connected with his chest. Slowly, surely, the orb began to shrink as it was instinctively absorbed into his own heart, returning to it's true home, leaving behind a empty space in his palms.

The Blue Blur blinked, surprised and disoriented by the experience. Rio wasn't the only one watching him warily, although Shadow looked on expectingly, almost hoping that the sapphire male would mysteriously drop dead.

"So? How did it feel?" The concerned cyan hedgehog asked, peering at the young hero cautiously.

Sonic stared at him for a moment, then smiled up to his ears.

"...your eyes are really pretty."

xxxxxxxxxx

Alright.

 _Maybe_ there were some side effects of an absorption. In their defense, none of them saw it coming, even the not one, but two Element Spirits who should, supposedly, know everything about this.

 _Rio probably knew this would occur._ Tails knew with almost absolute certainty that it was the only reason the traitor scrambled away into the forest when he noticed that the sapphire hedgehog had the calmest, most relaxed smile known to history.

"Stop it already!"

 _At least he's having fun._

A certain someone wasn't thinking alike.

In fact, he was having a lot trouble to restrain himself from committing a homicide.

This has to be karma. _I shouldn't have accepted my Emerald back._ Every kind action from the blue hedgehog Shadow had ever received was compensated tenfold in annoyance.

He should have know this by now.

 _"But you're so pretty~"_ Several mobians winced at the slurred sentence, stepping away from the fiasco waiting to explode. Shadow looked particularly vindictive, but that was probably due to the young cobalt hedgehog clinging to his waist and making big puppy eyes at him. Not to mention the unsettlingly large, dopey smile gracing the hero's lips.

Shadow wasn't the only one bemused by the whole situation. He was however, the only one that was a hair away from ripping the Blue Blur's head off...though judging by the red echidna's darkening expression, the ebony male guessed that the mobian was close.

The only redeeming thing was how the fox child, Tails, couldn't get his head wrapped around what was happening.

"He's high."

"Yes." Vicini admitted, his voice almost pained by the sheer stupidity of the situation.

"He's _high_."

"Again, yes."

"-and this never happened before?" Tails asked with concern, eyeing an enraged Shadow who was struggling to get his rival to stop trying to 'steal his nose'.

"No." Vicini exclaimed with a frustrated sigh, his scowl deepening as he fruitlessly tried to reach his charge through their mental link. Nothing but a jumbled mess answered him, a whirlwind of words, sensations and memories that made him shut the connection immediately. The last thing the fire sprite wanted was to end up like his friend. He didn't know if it was possible, but he certainly proffered not trying. "I blame the fact he never came with a manual." The spirit lamented with a dry tone, watching as a certain ebony hedgehog tried -and failed- to dislodge Sonic, who was now attempting to chew on his Inhibitor Ring as if it was candy.

"We all do."

"It must be caused by the excess energy." Knuckles intervened, still eyeing the two squabbling hedgehogs as if they were a walking nuke waiting to happen. "When we went Super with the use of the Chaos Emeralds, we often felt-"

"-high?" Chris guessed, hiding a smile at Shadow's wordless scream of fury.

"...strung." Knuckles corrected in a pained tone. He cleared his throat before continuing in a more confident tone. "I was going to say high-strung." The carmine warrior glanced at the delirious blue hedgehog again. "I say let him do what he wants. He'll probably crash in a few minutes."

 _"Get off me -holy **fuck**!"_ Heads turned at the shuttered curse, and the mobians could only stare as Shadow disappeared under a mass of cyan and cobalt. A large creature lay stretched out where Sonic had once stood. The wolffish beast was stretched out on the sandy shore, tongue lolling out, the heavy, horned head resting atop of a squirming mass of black fur.

"Huh." Vicini commented off-handily. "He's smaller than Rio. Guess that's a good thing."

 _"That's small for you!?"_

The creature -Sonic- purred oddly, unconcerned as the Ultimate Lifeform fought to escape. Shadow managed to wiggle out from under the thick skull of the dazed creature, only to let out a snarl of exasperation as his hand was pinned between two maws, who pulled him closer and forced him to rest against a bulky blue shoulder.

The general consensus was immediate.

"So we'll wait it out?"

"It's for the best." Chris said with a sigh, fighting to keep his smile hidden as a low roar came from the Ultimate Lifeform currently fighting to free his hand from Sonic's grasp, the blue hedgehog -well, not hedgehog anymore- entranced by the golden glow of the Inhibitor ring around his wrist. "Now, to a more reasonable issue; I'm sure all of you want to get out of here. Problem is, I don't have enough space on the Tornado to fit all of you."

"Why didn't you bring another of our planes? We have at least four!" Tails whined, namesakes twitching in irritation behind him.

"Hey! The Tornado X is being repaired because someone decided fiddle with the main computer...and the rest of our creations are on Mobius, so tough luck." The human frowned. "We need a bigger portal."

Knuckles sighed. "We can take a look at that next week. For now, I want to leave this place."

"It's not that bad, Mister Knuckles!" Cream exclaimed cheerfully from her spot on the creature's belly. The only thing peaking out of the soft white fur were her ears.

A loud explosion came from Eggman's base. By the flat expression on the echidna's face and Chris' sheepish one, there was no need to argue about their less than preferable location any further.

"That is the world saying that we should get out of here." Tails spoke up, turning to a idle orange hedgehog and a irritated ebony male. "Anyways, Shadow, Vicini, how many people can you teleport at a time?"

"I can use Chaos Control with five passengers.." Shadow gestured Rouge, who was standing nearby, watching the large monster that had once been a tiny blue hedgehog wiggle around on the grass like some kind of overgrown puppy. The giggling rabbit perched on it's belly wasn't helping the picture. "I'll bring four of you with me. I suggest you choose wisely."

"Cream and Amy should go with him. Topaz too." The human shrugged at Tails' idea, choosing to not speak up. She was tired, sore, and done for the day. The idea of being instantly home wasn't without appeal. "Huh. That leaves one spot open, then it's either the plane or Vicini..."

"Sorry. I'll probably fry you." The orange spirit exclaimed, raising his hands in defence at the confused look he received. "My warping ability uses Ether energy; I can bring Sonic with me since he's not likely to grow a third eye when exposed to Ether, but in the state he's in..."

There was a quiet huff as the said blue hero's transformed head fell into the grass, Shadow finally managing to dislodge himself from his rival's iron grip and backing away quickly, not wanting to be caught by the creature again.

It lazily reached out with one paw, but Shadow was too far away for the limb to catch him. Instead Cream trotted forwards, falling into the canine's fluffy side with a giggle. The beast let out a soft bark and rolled on it's back, with the little rabbit and her Chao clinging to the pale fur of it's belly.

"Great." Tails lamented, eyeing his transformed brother with distaste. He's almost as big as the Tornado. "Who's going to carry him?"

"Well, he kind of seemed attached to Shadow, and there is still a spot open, so..."

The ebony warrior suddenly let out a sharp hiss, drawing the group's attention back to himself. _"No."_ Shadow snarled, killing the idea before it existed, his eyes telling of how he would punish the insolent fools if they tried to continue down this path. The Ultimate Lifeform's fingers twitched, itching to use the stone clasped tightly in his left hand. He looked about to use his newly returned Emerald to bail.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if everyone else could hear his thoughts, because he was promptly jumped.

xxxxxxxxx

 _"Here, have it."_

 _The cobalt hedgehog blinked owlishly, staring at the gleaming object._

 _It was a medallion._

 _It seemed to be made in the same strange metal -crystal, he reminded himself- than his companions' own, though this time shaped like a small, plain guitar. Sonic glanced up at his eldest sibling, perplexed. Manic nudged him forwards with a hand on his back, chuckling as the younger hedgehog jumped and complied with their demands, quickly reaching up to grab the necklace._

 _Sonia's grin broadened at his skittish attitude, making him scowl had he not been mesmerized by his sister's gift. The sapphire speedster traced the slim jewelry with wonder, feeling the clean, smooth surface of the stone. How strange..._

 _"It was supposed to be for our little brother, Maurice...but well, he never got to experience the wonders of the world." Sonia explained, smiling at the wide-eyed look of utter confusion her younger companion possessed. "We found it in our mother's old safe home, tucked away in a box beneath the stairs...you can't use it's power, since you don't have the royal blood, but it doesn't deserve to gather dust. I figured you might get some use for it."_

 _"Hey!" Manik exclaimed, indignant. "The idea didn't come from you! I was the one who decided to take it with us!"_

 _"Yeah, because you pawed it off from mom."_

 _"...it was just sitting there, what did you expect?! Besides, that place hadn't been visited in years. I'm surprised nobody tried to break in."_

 _Sonia fought to keep a straight face at her brother's whine. Shaking her head, she reached out a ruffled Sonic's quills, making the youngest squawk in vexation._

 _"Here." She slid around him, taking the necklace and gesturing for the blue mobian to tilt his neck. He did so obediently, ears twitching at Manic's sniggers at the scene. Sonia had to stand on the tip of her toes to prevent impaling herself on the razor sharp spines adorning his head. Years of being chased by a madman had, quite literally, fixated his quills in their hardened state. "Done. Manic, hand me a mirror."_

 _"How would I have one?" The emerald hedgehog cried with indignation. Despite his exasperation, he still reached into his backpack and pulled out a small, handheld mirror, with ornate gold and silver edges._

 _Sonia picked it up from her younger sibling's hand before handing it to a amused Sonic. "I saw you still it from that young raccoon this morning."_

 _The princess' only answer was a small puff. "Bugger me."_

 _"Shush now. Sonic, what do you think?" The young prince looked up at the violet hedgehog in confusion, before realizing what she asked of him and pulling up the mirror to eye level._

 _The medallion shimmered mysterious around his slim neck, drawing his attention. It was as if it emitted light from within. He raised a hand and clasped it around the guitar-shaped stone, his fingers twitching as he felt a warm heat from the little crystal._

 _"So, do you like it?" Manic pressed eagerly, part of his head showing in the mirror, along with Sonia's. Their own medallions hung from their throats, their inner shine reflecting in the mirror alongside with Sonic's._

 _Sonic couldn't help but smile._

 _"It's perfect."_

He opened his eyes slowly, bleary emerald orbs slowly taking in the sight of a plush bedroom, one that was very familiar to him. The curtains were shut, but he could see the weak sunlight filtering through the thick silk material. The sapphire hero guessed that it had to be past noon.

Did he pass out? If so, when did he? Sonic would have frowned if the smallest movements of his facial muscles didn't make him want to scream. He felt sore to the bones, and this confused the young speedster. He rarely got this tired...

The bedroom door was suddenly snapped open, the loud noise making him flinch.

"Hey Sonic!"

 _Oh Chaos._ The stabbing, agonizing headache that suddenly made itself known made him curl up and die on the spot. Did someone hit him over the head? It felt like it...

"Awake, aren't we?" The person said cheerfully, making him groan. Of course it had to be Chris.

 _Get your squeaky voice away from me._

"Leave me alone." Sonic muttered through the bedsheets, a small scowl growing on his face as he felt the mattress shift. The teenager must have sat down. The grouchy blue male peaked his head out of the sheets, glaring at the smirking blond watching him exactingly. "Go. Shoo."

Chris let out a good natured chuckle, setting the cup he was holding on the bedside. Sonic was so drowsy, he hadn't even noticed it.

Did Shadow club him over the head with his pistol? It would be likely.

"...what happened...?" The Blue Blur whined, wincing slightly as he sat up. It took a moment to stop the world from spinning around him.

"You got high off Rio's Core and tried to chew on Shadow." Chris answered without a pause, as nonchalantly as one would speak about the weather. "Nothing much, really. We managed to get you here -that is, when you decided it would be time to be a hedgehog again."

Huh? Oh, wait. The Core. His grimace darkened. He was so going to stuff Rio in a garbage can the next time he saw the traitorous bastard. The cyan spirit had to know this would happen.

"Here," His companion's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Blinking, he glanced at the human, only to have a porcelain cup filled with a amber liquid being stuffed to his face. The scent of herbs were strong, practically making Sonic nose blind. It took a considerable amount of effort to stop himself from sneezing -and painting the pale bedsheets a nice shade of orange.

"What happened to coffee?" He croaked, blearily looking up at his taller friend.

"We ran out." Chris said, shaking his head, expression growing fond." Chuck and Tails drank all of it yesterday while working on the Tornado."

Sonic could only shake his head and smile at the teenager's words.

 _The wonders of an all-nighter._

"Had any good dreams?"

Sonic paused at his friend's words, setting the cup back on the platter. Had it been a good dream? He knew the memory was a bittersweet one. The image of Sonia and Manic sprung up in his mind, the glimmer of the guitar against the fawn fur of his neck making him sigh tiredly.

(He didn't deserve it. The medallion had been forged for someone else.)

"So, were they nice?"

 _Then again..._

Sonic sighed, before looking up at the expectant human and smiling softly.

"Yeah...it was perfect."

xxxxxxxxx

He stared at the bottle in his hands, blue eyes narrowed behind dark glasses as he stared deep into the contents of the tiny capsule. The substance gleamed within it's nest in the glass, the shimmering array of colors seemingly shifting and dancing endlessly within the container.

He stared with contemplation at the valse filled with the mysterious liquid. It had been very little, but what he managed to siphon off the Elemental Spirit would have to do. He glanced at the droplets of blood his robots were scraping off the floor and walls. Yes. Combined with the blood, tissue and bone marrow samples he had taken from a drugged, compliant Sonic, this would be enough to continue his research.

He disliked the fact he hadn't been able to take an scan of the small blue hedgehog, nor drain him of Ether energy. He hadn't had the time after operating his nemesis, and he knew that it was only a matter of hours before the mobians escaped. Besides, he already possessed a piece from the Element Spirit. And Sonic couldn't know that he had examined him. He would surely try to destroy his research, which Eggman would do everything to prevent.

Maybe next time he staged a kidnapping and succeeded, he would do the necessary scans.

Taking one last look at his ruined base, Eggman directed his hover chair to climb higher, towards the ripped ceiling. He emerged from the damaged structure just in time to see his machines pull out the corpse of his battle robot out of the lake. He spared but a glance to the pitiful, limp corpse dangling from the claws of the worker bots before turning around and entering his airship, hidden within the clouds, the metal doors of the vehicle snapping shut behind him.

Entering the main quarters, the human stepped off his most useful creation and made his way towards his study, the samples, especially the shimmering test tube filled with Ether, held tightly in his arms.

Almost immediately when he entered the large, spacious room, Eggman knew his sanctuary had been violated. The sole window wasn't open, but the research papers on his desk had been pushed aside, scattered on the ground, and where they once sat lay something else. The three surveillance cameras that constantly recorded the chamber were sitting on the desk, wires hanging out and still sparkling, next to a large, dark brown package, as if his mysterious intruder was trying to riddle him up.

They were succeeding...that is, if Eggman wasn't more curious of what lay within the little brown container.

Gently setting his hard-won samples aside, the human approached his desk curiously. Clearing his voice, he called out for the mother computer of the ship to scan the package for any explosives or dangerous toxins. The machine did so cheerfully, replying that what lied within the box was unknown, but it was sure that there were no traces of explosive or combustible items within the bag. It did however note that what was inside the container was cubical in nature, and was formed out of a single material, so it was unlikely to be dangerous.

Reassured that it wouldn't blow up in his face, the bald scientist stepped closer, gloved hands reaching out and tearing open the brown paper of the package, revealing a strange, milky white shape beneath.

He didn't know what to expect, but it still took him off guard.

A block sat within the box, fashioned out of an unknown substance. He tapped it gently, noting the slight chime upon contact. This was a metal, that he knew. Some rare type of alloy? It was probable. He tapped it again, this time with a thin metal rod. Strange. The clear, bell-like sound was been similar to one produced by crystal. Was this some strange, unique hybrid of the two? Eggman knew almost every metal combination that existed -or that he had created- so this strange item gifted from a unknown had picked his interest.

 _I wonder what it does._ The strange, gleaming patterns on the pale, pearl-like surface of the cube were a curious sight indeed.

In fact, the colors reminded him of something.

His eyes wandered away, to the small reinforced tube sitting innocently next to the package, right where he left it. Reaching out with one hand, the elder scientist grabbed it, while his other hand went underneath his desk and snagged a protective, battered mask he'd often use during his small experiments. He quickly put it on, eager to continue with his examination.

Eggman pulled up a chair and sat in front of the metal ingot. He ripped off the cork of the test tube and tilted it slightly, watching as the energy in liquid form within slowly answered the call of gravity and began edging towards the opening.

The power-hungry scientist let but a single drop of it fall, not wanting to waste the precious material. This was just a hunch, but if he was right...

He was.

The man watched with a quirked eyebrow as the droplet of liquid Ether began to smoke and burn away at the contact of the seemingly inconspicuous block of metal. Billowing steam exploded from the point of contact, and the scientist was forced to take a few steps back. He patted himself on the shoulder for having the thought of using a mask during his little experiment. He didn't want to find out anytime soon what the shimmering smoke would do when coming into contact with human flesh.

The hissing slowly quieted down, and Eggman was able to walk over to the desk once more. The cube of metal was as pale as ever, the only difference being the small amount of charcoal-like residue where the droplet of liquid Ether had fallen. Grabbing a small test tube and a spoon, the last Robotnick carefully gathered the strange dust particles left behind.

He didn't know what it was, but the perplexed human was sure that it would take him only a few more experiments to make use of the strange cube. Eggman stared at the innocent block of metal, entranced by the unique properties of the material. If it did what he thought it was doing...

...this was interesting.

 _Very_ interesting.

* * *

 **In the first version of the Holder Series this was it for Sonic's nightmares -which was pretty stupid of me. A trauma like the one he has can't just go away in a blink, like magic and stuff. It will be present in the first few acts of the series, but will start fading away near the end of this season. Sonic will have problems managing that trauma, but he will try his best and will often be frustrated by his lack of process.**

 **But now that we have left behind Act 3, we can get on to working with the fourth one, which will advance the main plot of this book much more.**

 **Next update will be around the middle of next week, then one more in the weekend. I have to make up for the wait.**


	19. Molten Guardian

**I kind of updated late, but the old version didn't satisfy me, so I cannibalized it and made a new one :/**

* * *

 **Act 4: Molten Guardian**

* * *

Of all the years since his -very memorable- first meeting with the blue hedgehog, Chris has never seen his friend look so serious.

Sonic was sitting a few feet away from the pool, eyeing a cup of water in front of him with dark jade orbs. There was nothing special about it; it was a plastic cup of a bright, eyesore red shade, the type commonly used when needing to serve a mass gathering. It was filled with water from the pool, as they had seen the cobalt hedgehog briskly crawl to the edge of the water and fill the container up, only to scram at the speed of sound as Cream tried to splash the unfortunate mobian.

In and all, it was a very simple cup being stared at by a very unpredictable hedgehog.

Which made the perplexing scene a thousand times more terrifying.

The blonde wasn't the only one feeling queasy; from the corner of his vision he could see Tails edging away silently, trying his best to stay out of the spotlight as he sat down the complete opposite of the pool's edge, intent on not getting caught in the metaphorical storm the cobalt hedgehog was likely to unleash.

Sonic raised his hands -unknowingly making many of the surrounding population flinch- and his expression shifted from a glare to one of concentration. The emerald orbs narrowed further, almost as if he was trying to will the water to defy gravity and rise...

With a audible _pop_ , the cup suddenly flopped over on it's side, letting the water spill on the smooth stone.

Sonic promptly broke down at the pitiful sight. "Argh! I can't do it!" He wailed, shaking his head furiously. "I'm a horrible person!" He flopped down face first into the grass with a groan, his ears flopping down and quills standing up from the nervous breakdown, their owner finally giving up his attempts at moving even the smallest amount of water.

"Maybe a emotional reaction would do the trick..." Cosmo said airily from her spot on the grass, watching the whimpering mass of azure quills with pity. "Back home, young Seedrians were stimulated emotionally to encourage the development of their abilities. Then, with time and training, they learned to activate their gifts at will..." The female trailed off, her voice becoming unsure as she remembered the fate of her specie. Tails let out a low cough.

"That gives me an idea..." Chris hummed, rising from his stretched position on the edge of the pool. Standing up, he quietly snagged his phone from a nearby table and flipped it open. The blond seemed to search the device's contents for a moment. Apparently finding what he was looking for, the human smiled mischievously.

He gestured for the others to look at him; with their attention on him, the young scientist sneaked over to the deflated Sonic, the phone hovering inches from the unaware hedgehog's right ear.

It was then that Chris pressed the play button, with absolutely no regrets of what would occur.

 _"Sonikku!"_

The Blue Blur screamed.

The water in the pool exploded upwards into a makeshift geyser, rising several feet towards the sky and showering anyone who had been standing too close of the concrete basin. A surprised Cream was sent flying into the air, ears flapping wildly as she slowed her fall and landed safely at the edge of the pool, a mortified Cheese hanging loosely from her arms. Several cracks echoed across the property as the delicate sprinklers exploded, sending out rivers of water across the lawn and turning it into a muddy mess. Hoses thrashed wildly across the lawn, gleaming under the midday sun as they spewed out gallon after gallon of water.

Startled screams echoed from beyond the property, signifying that the damage hadn't been restrained to the Thorndyke mansion. Few winced as they heard a car horn blare loudly from the street, followed by a dozen more and the screech of tires.

A certain blue hedgehog blinked from the curled up position he had made after having heard the voice of the pink female. He squinted up at the gaping human standing over him, then glanced at the half-empty pool, and finally the garden which had been turned into a miniature swamp.

His baffled expression turned into a seething glare.

"Huh..." Chris had the decency to apologize, though he could only open his mouth to apologize before a disgruntled, thoroughly soaked speedster punched him in the stomach.

xxxxxxxx

The afternoon sun glowed dully above GUN's headquarters, casting a dull orange shadow upon the hollow grey of the massive complex. Perched atop of a hill and boxed in by tall concrete walls, with high towers meant for surveillance and guards armed to the teeth at every corner, it could only be described as a fortress.

A small voice at the back of Shadow's head wondered how long it would take to set it ablaze.

The Ultimate Lifeform ignored the wary sideways glances the personnel gave him as he made his way into the compound; he was used to their actions by now, and he simply couldn't afford to care about what the humans thought about him. Despite having having been dragged to work for the organization months ago by Rouge, they still trusted him as much as one would trust a toddler with a knife.

The Ultimate Lifeform didn't blame them. Even if he was pardoned, he still tried to destroy their planet.

(He guessed destroying half of the moon wasn't easily forgotten as well.)

His rapid walk led him to a massive glass and metal door, which he pushed aside with a flick of his hand. Unamused ruby eyes met a pair of bored aquamarine; this second pair of eyes belonged to a familiar, buxom white bat their owner knew too well.

Rouge sat on a comfortable dark navy chair, stretched out on the furniture as if it was a throne. Long, powerful legs were crossed neatly, with her left foot tapping rhythmically against the stone floor as she awaited for the ebony hedgehog to sit down. Her posture was hunched and she had her elbows on the table, wings dropping as the bat waited impatiently for him to arrive.

The jewel thief perked up at the sight of her comrade, giving the obsidian agent a pleased grin as a greeting. She did not speak however, her eyes darting to the man standing nearby, back straight, looking like a marble statue -a very ugly one in Shadow's opinion.

Standing by the uncaring winged mobian was a massive, bulky metal beast with gleaming scarlet optics devoid of emotion. Despite the nature of the creature, Shadow was made aware of Omega's impatience by the slight twitch of the long metal fingers adorning the end of the machine's bulky forearms.

It seemed as if the robot wanted to get this over with too, and would likely do anything to achieve that goal.

(Although, Shadow's idea for ending the ridiculous meeting early would result in a lot of blood and broken bones).

Rouge seemed to be the only one at peace -better said, the only one who was revelling in the tense atmosphere of the room. The bat had the gall to leer at the dark hero with amusement, the edge of her lips tugging into a self-satisfied smirk at the obvious displeasure the older agent felt. The expression on his female friend's face made Shadow want to turn around and walk away, because there was no way in hell this meeting wasn't going to spiral into complete and utter chaos within the first ten minutes.

Gathering his irritation and shoving it into a box hidden in the darkest corner of his mind, Shadow let out a soft sigh of resignation before sitting down on the third chair.

 _Might as well get this over with._

Curiously, there was fourth chair tucked away between Rouge and himself, and both noticed it with confusion. Omega did not need it, as there were little furniture that could handle his weight. G.U.N. wasn't a organization prone to leaving things about. Everything was measure, calculated and stored carefully for further use to minimize the already hefty sum the global military force spent each year on supplies.

Begrudgingly, Shadow admired that trait, so the sight of a unused chair was a curious one for the suspicious ebony male.

"Now that we are all here, let us begin." At the familiar voice, the scarlet-striped warrior's attention snapped to the fourth inhabitant of the room. His narrowed eyes settled on a familiar human standing tall at the furthest edge of the chamber, back straight, arms crossed over his chest, a cold gleam in his mismatched eyes.

Towers was staring directly at him, and Shadow couldn't help but return the scorching glare with one of his own.

It was simply common curtesy.

xxxxxx

"Why do you insist in antagonizing the Commander?"

Shadow barely twitched at the hissed question, indifferent to the glaring aquamarine eyes. His own remained fixated on his knees, where a small pyramid of documents sat, piled neatly on the onyx legs. He ignored the small, sleek plane looming over his head gleaming under the bright white lights of the hanger, completely absorbed in his task.

G.U.N. employees raced about all around him, yelling order in speakers, preparing the vehicle for the long journey it was about undertake. Crates were being moved and systems were rechecked with efficiency; it chaotic scramble for the last minute details, the sight of the rushing monkeys satisfying the ebony hedgehog's crueler side.

The Ultimate Lifeform's philosophy of ignoring others only seemed to make Rouge more irritated, as the bat reached over from her perch on a concrete staircase and shoved a finger into the bed of white fur on his chest, making him bristle. Shadow finally looked up and glared at her, the searing fire in his impassive eyes could have intimidated anyone; that is, anyone but the sly thief. He knew that Rouge was aware of the sensitivity of the white tuff, and the fact that the female was tugging at it, uncaring of the sharp stings that travelled up his spine only made the black warrior angrier.

"I get that you have unresolved issues with him, but it's not only your paycheck that hangs in the balance."

"They wouldn't dare try anything." Shadow reminded as he turned the pages of the file he was holding, ruby eyes swiftly scanning the information within the document. Unlike Rouge, who was stretched on the stone staircase like a pleased cat, the irritated male sat with poise, back straight, the garnet stripes adorning his limbs glistening a pale shade pinkish white under the powerful white lights illuminating the massive chamber. "G.U.N. prefers having their little weapon exactly where it is."

He could almost hear the bat's grimace. Both mobians knew the statement was true, but Rouge liked to ignore that aspect of her friend's relationship with their employer.

"Still, you could use some work on that, honey."

"Why do you even care?" The Ultimate Lifeform countered, his eyes shifting back to the documents. He turned another page, and was greeted with another bulky wall of text. "You're a master spy. While we work well together, you can do the same without me."

Rouge shifted uneasily at his side, the white bat suddenly straightening as she spoke, her expression and tone no longer playful. "I don't want you giving the Commander a excuse to lock you up." She implied softly, her wings dropping slightly. Even if he wasn't looking at the jewel lover, Shadow still picked up on the somber shift in her attitude.

"...he can try, but he won't succeed." The black hedgehog turned the page once more before continuing, his flat tone carrying a hint of warmth. "I'm a registered citizen of Mobius. Trying to capture me would create tensions between the two worlds, and the monkeys need their technology."

"I guess." His winged colleague nodded, looking a bit more upbeat. "It would be like trying to put a hit on Blue. G.U.N. would go to hell in basket." Rouge couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

 _The blue hedgehog will probably wave at it as the shady organization went down the drain under a pile of bad press and angry politicians. Let's not forget the mobs with pitchforks._

Rouge had a inkling that her dark friend would likely do the same.

Might as well change the topic. The winged female's eyes left the uninterested Shadow and turned to Omega, who was standing nearby, still as a marble statue. His carmine optics were dull, almost dead, signifying that the machine was on standby mode. Rouge made a face at the robot's lethargy. Guess she was stuck with Shadow.

Aquamarine eyes settled on the black hedgehog once more, the bright blue pools shifting from the detached hero to the small pile of forms on his lap. A invisible lightbulb went off over the female's head as she scooted closer and snatched the papers up, making Shadow snarl.

"In any case, aren't you excited?" Rouge commented with a smirk as she looked through the dossier, purposely disturbing the neat pile her darker companion had painstakingly maintained. "I've never been to Africa before." _Not legally._ "Even if we are going there to wail on some unfortunate sods, it's still interesting." She looked at the front page of the file and hummed, completely ignoring the fuming creature at her side. "Too bad we're going to the middle of nowhere."

None of my usual contacts are anywhere near Tanzania. Bugger me.

By now, the humans around them seemed to have picked up on Shadow's barely restrained ire, and were doing long detours to avoid being close to the ebony male. They cast furtive glances glance at the Ultimate Lifeform, as if expecting the immortal to drop his Inhibitor Rings and destroy the entire complex with a Chaos Blast.

"At least we're going to have something nice to talk about when we get back." Rouge purred as she finally handed the files back to her friend, who snatched up the messed up pile of sheets faster than she could blink.

The state Shadow offered her was murderous.

"When we get there, I'm going to throw you off the side of the mountain." The charcoal fighter threatened, the carmine eyes all but tearing holes into the white bat's head.

"You forget that I can fly, honey." Her placid reply only made the guttural growl of the dark hero grow louder.

"I'll tie you up then."

"Kinky."

Rouge swore she heard one of the workers choke on his spit.

Flexing her wings, the bat lay back against the stone stairway, relaxed and at ease. Shadow decided to ignore her again and returned to his reading, though the slight twitch of his ears told the female spy just how annoyed the onyx warrior was with her. As gruff Shadow could be, Rouge enjoyed the banter, and cornering the older hero in a verbal exchange was a source of enjoyment for the bored female.

Her mood darkened slightly as she remembered the meeting they had with the Commander less than a hour ago. It wasn't unusual for Team Dark to be dispatched to such a remote and inhospitable area -criminal organizations did like to hide in densely populated areas, but there was always the odd one or two- yet for Towers himself to address the information, in person no less, this made something within Rouge curl with dread.

She trusted her instincts well, and they were rarely wrong. This did seem like an simple job -dismantle a criminal network that did some shady work, yada yada,- that was nothing new, but something didn't feel right about it.

There also the location of the mission.

Tanzania.

It wasn't only because it was a backwards country -the team would be specifically sent to Kilimanjaro. A mountain. What kind of sane criminals decided to settle down on top of not one, but _three_ dormant volcanoes?! Didn't they know that even the _smallest_ explosions could set off a disastrous chain of events, and to hell their entire base would go?

Rouge had a sinking idea that those volcanoes wouldn't be dormant after this mission.

That is, if she managed to keep Shadow from removing his rings. It was easier said than done.

"It's ready!" A agent suddenly shouted over a speaker, dragging the bat out of her thoughts. She blinked, aware of Shadow rising to his feet at her side. That had been quick. Normally it took longer to secure a airborne vehicle for such a long trip.

"Wait!"

 _Who was that?_ Standing up, Rouge turned her head at the sound of the frantic voice. It was coming from above her head, from the top of the concrete staircase leading to the upper levels of the building.

A unknown woman stood at the double doors she had slammed open in her frenzy. Her light hair was pulled up and her clothes were in disarray. She wore the dark blue basic G.U.N uniform.

"Agent Rouge, wait!"

 _Please don't tell me that snoozy secretary realized out who keeps stealing her pencils..._

The female human stumbled down the stairs, nearly tripping over her own two feet in her panic. Rouge raised an eyebrow as the woman came to a stop in front of her, gasping as if she had run a marathon. Clutched to her chest was a yellow file.

"Are you alright?" Rouge asked, hearing Shadow snort behind her. She ignored the amused hedgehog, focusing on the dishevelled human.

"Dammit...I shouldn't have worn high heels today..." The woman whined, glancing down at her tall, dark green heels and wincing. Rouge followed her line of sight and made a face. Those shoes had the most delicate-looking heels she had ever seen. Highly impractical, and it wouldn't surprise the bat if they suddenly snapped under the weight of the small human. "The Commander forgot a important aspect of the mission." The agent shuttered as she offered the documents to Rouge, who took them gladly before throwing them back at Shadow, making the amused hedgehog frown. "Here! The details are on this file."

"What's it about?" Rouge heard her darker companion let out a deep breath of resignation as he read the papers, but she didn't give it much thought. Just about anything even remotely connected to G.U.N. brought such a reaction from the normally apathetic hedgehog.

The woman shrugged, her voice bleak as she struggled to speak through her wheezing. "I-I don't know much, but the Commander said something about a civilian assisting for the mission."

A civilian? _Why in Chaos would one be of any use?_

The doors crashed open once more, slamming against the wall with a resulting bang and making most inhabitants of the hanger pause, before resuming

"Topaz? What are you doing here?" Rouge's eyes drifted down from her exasperated-looking friend to the speck of sapphire standing next to her, looking as if he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Blue?"

Sonic merely offered her a sheepish grin.

The civilian. Of course. This suddenly made more sense. She now wished she had glossed over the files, beyond the basic information of the mission.

"...why did G.U.N. drag you into this?"

The blue hedgehog shifted uneasily as he explained. "Apparently, signing a contract that requires me to, and I quote, assist the Guardians of the United Nations in times of crisis means that they get to haul my ass in for the stupidest reasons." Sonic's smile turned into a frown, one that strangely resembled Shadow when something irritated the black hedgehog. Rouge could only wonder how much time the two rivals spent together for that kind of gesture to stick.

"Don't forget that because of the Commander, you are only getting a slap on the wrist." Topaz pipped in, making Rouge raise an eyebrow at the now embarrassed Sonic.

"...slap on the...?"

"It was a _accident_." The cobalt speedster murmured, looking down at his feet in dejection. "Let's just say it included a cup of water, a pool-"

"...and a few thousand dollars' worth of property damage." Topaz helpfully added.

"It wasn't that bad!" Sonic protested, his fawn cheeks turning to a light shade of pink.

"You managed to make a car crash. It was _parked_."

"It's not my fault it was next to a manhole!"

"Just be glad we're keeping you out of the limelight. As far as the police knows, a drain pipe shattered due to lack of maintenance."

"This is blackmail."

"I don't even want to know." Rouge muttered under her breath. She suddenly noticed the distinctive lack of quip from her ebony companion, and turned to him. The Ultimate Lifeform was standing there, staring down at Sonic with empty red eyes. "Shadow? Are you alright?"

The dark hero didn't even glance at her.

"No, I'm considering murder."

"That's illegal." Rouge, Topaz and Sonic muttered at the same time before blinking and staring at each other in bemusement.

Shadow let out a low snarl as he turned around and walked away, a silent Omega trailing after him, each step the war machine took making the floor shake. The two mobians and lone human watched them go with amusement. Rouge couldn't help but smile slyly.

...maybe she could start a bet of how long it would take until Shadow snapped.

Might as well make some money out of this hell.

xxxxxxxxx

"You're kidding me."

 **"Negative."**

"Not at all, Blue."

"You want me to board this tiny ass plane-"

"It needs to be small to avoid detection, Faker."

"-and cross over a giant pit of death-"

"It's called the Pacific, hedgehog."

"-just to kick the ass of some wannabe bad guys?!"

"That's about it." Rouge said with a smile and a nonchalant shrug. "Are you coming?"

Sonic stared owlishly at the indifferent bat and the irate Shadow as if they had grown a extra head. "Um, no." He shifted back as his rival took a step forwards, clearly intent on snapping his spine and carrying his paralyzed ass into the small, delicate-looking plane. "Why am I here again?"

"Publicity stunt, honey." A certain jewel bat crowed, her grin faltering at her own words. "The world loves the idea of their goody-two shoes hedgehog helping the military crack down on the big bad crooks." She sighed tiredly. "Supposedly, those we're going to take out today have been very quiet lately, even pulling out of several of their businesses, so G.U.N. finally decided to look into what they are doing."

"Shouldn't they investigate them before?!"

"This is G.U.N. we are talking about." Shadow suddenly spoke up, ruby eyes dark and ominous. "They are probably looking into it because this organization stopped selling technology to them."

"Huh." Rouge let out an amused huff, raising a eyebrow at the taller mobian. "Always thinking about the negative aspect of things, aren't you?"

The obsidian male's reply was blunt. "Someone has to."

The jewel thief stifled a laugh and crossed her arms, a ghost of a grin slowly growing on her lips. "You have a point there." The white bat admitted, glancing at the humans rushing around behind the scene, getting ready with a final checkup. It wouldn't be long until they would be forced to board the plane. "I don't think I'd be able to handle Blue if you weren't here to shut him up. Or distract him."

"Rude."

"I still think we should have stacked on chilidogs. Blue would have been easier to deal with."

 **"According to my database, it will have 64% chance of working, Rouge."**

"I can bring a bucket of water, if you want." The Ultimate Lifeform offered, enjoying the pallor of his rival's face.

 **"That would increase our chances of success significantly, Agent Shadow."**

"I'm right here!" Sonic snarled, scowling at the giant mech. Omega stared down at him with blinking red optics, indifferent to the irritated huff the cobalt hedgehog let out. "Fine. Have it your way." The indignant speedster suddenly perked up as an idea struck him. "Hey, can I drive the plane?"

 _"No."_

"Come on!" The blue hedgehog whined in indignation, putting his hands on his hips and frowning at his darker counterpart. "I do it all the time with the Tornado!"

"There is a difference, Faker."

"What would that be, huh? You're a real stick in the mud, you know that right?"

Shadow remained unperturbed by his companion's accusations. "I just value our lives more than what you think of me." The Ultimate Lifeform said dryly, passing a hand through sharp quills one last time to be sure he had everything. "Unlike the Tornado, this plane is not built to handle stupid."

 _ **"Hey!"**_


	20. Black Gates

**Oh hell this took a while. Sorry for that.**

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Shadow settled back into his seat, carmine eyes slowly sliding shut again.

"Are we there yet?"

 _I'm going to wring his neck._

"I said no, you little shit." A constant twitch of Shadow's right eye was the only thing that betrayed his fury after that.

But another five minutes later, he was forced to reconsider his pacifist reaction to the other's shenanigans.

"Are we there yet?"

"One more time, Faker, one more _damn_ time." The tightening of the Ultimate Lifeform's fists was warning enough. Sonic gave out a squawk of surprise as the older male's hands crackled with golden energy, the Chaos within the ebony hedgehog reacting to its owner's darkening mood. The young hero scurried away as quickly as he could, choosing to sit next to a silent Omega.

The machine eyed the cobalt hedgehog for a moment before deactivating it's optics once more, rationalizing that it should conserve as much energy as it could for the mission. Despite being made of metal, the robot had enough instinct to know that speaking with the speedster was more than likely to end in a terrible mess. Ignoring the creature seemed preferable.

Sonic sighed as he stretched in his seat, staring up at the curved ceiling with dull green eyes. He was bored beyond relief. The plane was empty of anything to do, and now that Shadow had reached his limit of non-violence with him, there was nobody else to bother. Rouge was lazing about in the cockpit of the plane, watching over the controls in case something went wrong with the auto-pilot.

Sonic knew he was terrible with technology, and being in a room filled with delicate controls would make him uncomfortable, especially knowing that the simplest, tiniest touch to anything could send the vehicle into a spiraling nose-dive. Thankfully, the white bat had quite viciously warned him to stay out the moment they boarded the flying contraption of doom, so he had a excuse to chicken out on this one.

The bored cobalt hedgehog glanced at the nearby window before jerking his head away when he saw a sliver of blue from beyond the reinforced glass. Sonic couldn't help but make a grimace. His stomach curled with dread as he remembered he was inside a small plane flying above one of the largest bodies of water in the world.

Just the thought sent shivers down his spine.

 _Find something to do quick, otherwise this flight is going to be hell..._

Bored emerald eyes scanned the room, finally settling on the dull yellow dossier Shadow was examining. Sonic stood up and edged closer to his rival, taking care to stay on the black hedgehog's line of sight. The Ultimate Lifeform was paranoid, and his reflexes were sharper than a knife. The young speedster didn't want to get stabbed by Chaos Spear if he could help it.

"Who are we going to bust anyways?" He wondered out loud, a small frown momentarily taking his features as Shadow stiffened at his side, the red-striped quills adorning his rival's head bristling in irritation.

Rouge's pale head popped out of the cockpit at the casual declaration, her eyes wide in disbelief. The jewel thief looked as if Sonic had just let out the foulest insult known to any sentient being.

The hero felt as if he just stepped on a land mine.

"Did they tell you anything?!"

"Of course not." Shadow exclaimed, responding instead of his rival. He glanced at the cobalt youth warily, not liking how the curious hero hovered over his shoulder, trying to read the files he was holding. Feeling petty, the being warrior slammed the document shut, earning a glower from Sonic. "G.U.N. believes that less he knows, the less likely he will be involved. I think it's stupid, since the idiot is getting dragged into this mess anyways." The Blue Blur's glare depended at this, but Shadow continued with a firm voice, unperturbed by his companion's scowl. "Humans are illogical that way."

"I'm thinking of this as a singular situation." Rouge offered meekly, a small grin growing on her lips as the darker of the three rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"...right." Obviously, Shadow was not impressed by her optimism.

"So..." A spiky blue head peaked over the back of the ebony male's seat once more, curious jade eyes fixed on the smug bat.

Shadow reached up and massaged his temples in frustration, his quills bristling lightly with the need to eliminate the source of his irritation. The Ultimate Lifeform let out a frustrated sigh as he settled further into his seat, deciding that blocking out his companion's would be the best response he could come up with -that is, besides physical violence.

Rouge's smirk grew larger at the darker warrior's actions. Glancing one last time at her sullen fellow agent, her eyes traveled up, back to Sonic, who was was looking at her patiently. The only sign that betrayed his restlessness was the twitching triangular ears, and the jewel thief couldn't help but find the sight amusing.

Sometimes it surprised her how childish Sonic could be, given everything he had gone through.

Clearing her throat, she stepped out of the cockpit completely after making sure that the auto-pilot was on one more time and to grab her own copy of the mission form. Walking pass the silently fuming Shadow, Rouge plopped down next to the cobalt hedgehog. She stretched on the comfortable seat with the grace of a feral cat, her inner smirk growing. She could almost taste the Blue Blur's impatience.

In that way, both of her companions were alike.

"Alright, listen Blue." Crossing her legs, she set the papers on her knees and opened them. Sonic scooted closer, all but leaning on her, curious green eyes river on the documents. Rouge was pleased to see that the younger mobian didn't even glance at her ample cleavage. Normal men always did, especially at this proximity. Gentleman as always, I suppose... "These files contain what you need to know. Seeing as I'm not sure you can read-" A unamused grunt was her only answer along with narrowed green eyes that looked up at her with discontent. The winged female merely waved the other off. "I'll tell you the gist of it."

"I can read just fine. Gimme." Sonic muttered irritably, glaring short-range missiles at the smirking bat's comment. Shrugging as well as slightly relieved she wouldn't be doing a lecture -as she hated it more than wearing clothes over her wings, Rouge handed the precious documents to the young male, who caught them nimbly.

Standing up, she left to attend to the cockpit once more, leaving Sonic sitting under a pile of documents. The blue hedgehog was undeterred by the sizeable amount of reading he had ahead, the jade eyes of the young hero narrowed in determination. It would take a while to get to their destination, and most of the file contained mission details he'll rather let Rouge and Shadow handle. Unlike what his rival thought, G.U.N. did tell him something.

Well, it was the simple _get in there, catch the bad guys, happy ever after_ , but it worked just fine for Sonic. He wasn't afraid to admit that he was a simple creature.

Sighing to himself, the young hero held up a sheet of paper, the first of the pile and labelled as important at the bottom of it. On the top of the document were four pictures of different formats, each showing different humans and with a long line of information underneath. This spiked his interest. Sonic knew that there were four main criminals to catch, as well as their cronies, but he hadn't been informed of anything specific pertaining the targets.

If -or rather, when- G.U.N. decided to drag him into their messes again, the blue speedster resolved to get as much details from the Commander himself before leaving. He knew how to read, but it didn't mean he liked it; staying in one place for too long got on his nerves.

He looked over the first picture with interest. This human in this image was male. He was tall, muscled, with dark skin and a harsh stare; in a way, the man made him think of the Commander, and it wasn't a compliment seeing how much of a manipulative bastard Tower could be. This man's hair was kept short, making him almost bald, and his eyes were the color of stone, grey and unfeeling. A quick glance at the bottom of the column made Sonic wince. It seemed as if this criminal's resemblance with the Commander wasn't just physical.

He was named James Ives, age fifty two, weapon expert and considered to be the ringleader of this...CIRCLE? What kind of name was that, especially for a criminal organization?! Oh well.

Sonic was starting to get used to the notion that Eggman wasn't the only human with the habit of using unimaginative names.

Still. Not even a name resembling a skull or something equally dark, just a _shape_...?

(He had to admit though, the stylized mandala at the top of the page was kind of cool.)

Brushing off his exasperation, the young hero continued his reading. A note at the end of the list of crimes the human had committed explained that the capture of this man was a top priority, but was unlikely to be at the location Sonic and his unwilling companions would raid. Raising an eyebrow at that, the cobalt hedgehog moved on to the next target.

The second file was of another human male, and he looked completely different from his older leader. Scrawny, with a sharp face and boney limbs, he almost looked inoffensive. Despite the soft features and well-kept appearance however, something in the man's picture made Sonic uneasy. Maybe it was the tiny ghost of a smile or the twinkle in his piercing green eyes, but either way he was wary to meet this man.

Creepy wasn't enough to get started on this human. Just from this Sonic knew that the man would be a hassle to catch.

Jade orbs shifted down, scanning the name and information of the target. Percival Hermes. Huh. That was a fancy name. He looked of European descent, and look, he was a scientist! Seriously, the only the man was missing in his picture was a cup of tea. Hopefully he wouldn't be difficult to capture, but Sonic trusted his instincts and knew that this human would be a pain.

The third column sported a crime shot photo, with the woman in it holding the black chart with blurry numbers and grinning at the camera with glazed blue eyes. She was pretty for a human, or at least would if her features weren't twisted with a sickening smirk on her chapped lips. Thick, oily blond hair fell down her head in disarray, and freckles lined her cheeks. Her eyes were squinted from smiling, and brought out the tiny specks of reddish black dotting her face.

Sonic frowned. The spots were too centred around the lower section of her face, and grew too big around her chin, almost as if she had been caught in some kind of blast...

Emerald eyes narrowed, growing dark with the realization.

Those weren't freckles.

It was dry blood.

 _I knew I shouldn't have eaten before take-off..._ Looking away from the disturbing photo, the uneasy hero looked down the list of crimes. He almost whistled at the long list had he not wanted to disturb the older male sitting in front of him, settling instead on raising an questioning eyebrow as his eyes scanned the page. This woman was wanted for homicide, war crimes, theft...the list went on and on.

A quick glance at the other files told him that each member had more or less the same pile of crimes raised against them, save a distinct exemption.

One had something else added to the chain, and it was something the cobalt hero couldn't help but stare at with blank green eyes.

 _Human experimentation._

He looked over the information G.U.N. was providing. The name was Eris Eleonore. It was a strange name, but seeing as he had been born on a planet where most often than not it's citizens were named after objects, Sonic let it slide. He looked at her age, only to frown when it was only a estimate. 35-40 years old. His eyes travelled down the document, the jade orbs slowly darkening as the only thing that greeted him was incredibly vague information. They didn't even have a place of birth for this woman. Was she a complete ghost to one of the most paranoid military organizations out there?!

But why didn't they have anything on her? Especially to this level...?

Jade orbs darkened as they trailed upwards, from the wall of text to the photo. This human was female, with a heart-shaped face and sharp chocolate eyes. The brown orbs were fixed low on a shape out of the photograph, and were set in a narrow, sharp expression, a mask void of emotion. It was clear that this picture has been taken from afar, barely out of range of the female's senses.

Sonic could only wonder if the cameraman managed to get away safely.

He'd rather not think about it. Slamming the file shut with a bit more force than it was required, the cobalt hedgehog dropped the document on the chair next to him before leaning back and sighing tiredly. Sonic didn't look out the near window, keeping his eyes on his feet as he lay there, deep in thoughts.

Human experimentation. It echoed inside his head like nails on chalkboard. The whole thing made him feel uneasy. When he had been brought into G.U.N.'s main base, he had thought this would be simple. Kick the bad guys, bring them back in handcuffs and then go back home. The fact that he would do this with people he knew only spurned him into accepting the offer. The pool incident had influenced him as well, but Sonic wasn't one to shy from taking responsibility for his actions.

Even if Chris started it.

 _That reminds me. When I see that idiot again..._ Sonic paused, his vengeful thoughts trailing off. What would he do? The whole thing had been his fault, not the human's. He had been the imbecile who hadn't trained to control the small grasp he possessed on the two elements. If he had begun conditioning himself to not instinctively use his power each time he was surprised early, it wouldn't have happened.

A frown formed on his features. He had been trained before. It hadn't been the proper way, but he had... The Blue Blur fought the urge to growl as memories he certainly didn't want to deal with at the moment made themselves known. No. That hadn't been training. That man hadn't taught him anything.

 _Programming was more like it..._.

Not the time to think about that.

A sudden tremor startled the somber youth out of his thoughts, green eyes snapping up in alert as the plane shook a second time. What was happening? Was the plane malfunctioning? He knew that G.U.N. was cheap, but not to this level...

He could see Shadow shifting, the ebony male rising from his seat. Despite only being able to see the back of the Ultimate Lifeform's head, Sonic knew that his rival's expression was set in a deep frown. The cobalt hero didn't blame his counterpart for making such a grimace; this was unexpected, and incredibly worrying.

The mobian still hadn't forgotten that they were flying over the Pacific. Time had passed since the last time he'd dared to look outside, but Sonic didn't try to look for the truth. He didn't want to lose his composure at the sight of the cold waters stretching endlessly beneath him.

A second tremor traveled the plane, making the young speedster flinch.

"Hey Shads?" The hero exclaimed softly; if the older male noticed the slight waver in his voice, he didn't comment on it. "...please tell me this is normal."

"Unlikely." The darker warrior replied dryly as he moved to the front of the plane. "Rouge, what's going on?" Shadow demanded as he stepped into the cockpit, disappearing from the cobalt's view.

"I don't know!" The bat's voice snapped from the cockpit, sounding irritated. "But I think you should come over here, I could use the help!" At the panic in her tone Sonic leapt over the seat in front of him before rushing to the front of the plane, joining the rest of the mobians. Omega stayed back, the machine awakened by the commotion but unable to do anything, as the bulky robot needed to stay in the middle of the vehicle to keep it balanced.

Sonic poked his head into the cockpit, the blue hedgehog looking a bit paler than usual as the plane continued to rumble ominously. The cobalt youth stepped into the room, only to pause with a yelp as the plane shuddered once more, tilting to the left lightly and nearby making him fall over. Shadow ignored the tremor as he stood over the broad control panel, scanning the numerous buttons, clocks and levers with narrowed carmine eyes. Rouge was sitting on the pilot's chair, teeth bared in frustration as she fiddled with the control wheel.

...which refused to budge, no matter how much the bat seemed to pull, tug and twist the control to get some kind of reaction.

 _"Chaos damn it!_ " She snarled as she threw her hands up in defeat. A part of Sonic mentally agreed with her. From the tenseness of her lower body it almost seemed as she was about to kick the wheel into oblivion. The white bat was refraining to do so however, on the off chance it started answering her commands once more.

Wandering green orbs looked over the chamber once more, settling on the window. Sonic tuned out Rouge's angry muttering as he noticed the sprawling tropical forest stretching below the plane. He knew they were still to far for this to be the mission's location, but the blue hedgehog took a split second to silently cheer at the fact that he wasn't flying over the sea anymore. It didn't mean that the plane crashing down onto the earth wasn't going to hurt though.

It was at that moment that the plane decided it was time to throw another hissy fit.

"Gha!" The vehicle lurched again, this time flying straight upwards. Both Sonic and Shadow smacking into the wall of the cockpit, hastily grabbing onto the machinery as the plane whirled and twirled as if it was avoiding unseen attacks.

As abruptly as it had occurred, the small plane suddenly righted itself, flying in a straight line as if nothing happened.

Rouge tried to move the control wheel once more, and was pleased to see it move instead of remaining fixed in place. Her growing expression of relief dissipated however when she noticed that while the wheel moved, the plane was fixed in place, stubbornly refusing to answer her commands.

She frowned, looking over the control pads for what felt like the hundredth time. "A malfunction...?" The jewel thief muttered, pressing the button that disabled the auto-pilot. Like before, it remained unlit, signifying that the plane was, in theory, supposed to respond to the control wheel's movements.

"Unless they replaced the motor with a potato, I don't think so." Sonic wheezed out from his spot on the floor, feeling lightheaded from the aerial acrobatics he had been unwillingly subjected to.

The plane shook, more violently this time.

This time, all three mobians watched in mortification the main control wheel Rouge was holding suddenly press forwards, sending the plane into a nose dive.

"Fuuuu-!" Sonic's long cry was muffled as he smacked against the ceiling; the cobalt hero reached out and clung to it like a terrified cat, emerald eyes growing wide as the ground drew closer. Just as he was about to lose his lunch the plane rose back up and flew in a straight horizontal line once more, docile again -for now.

But unlike the last time, something was different.

Namely, the large spot less than a mile away from them, heading straight for the plane as it's slick form gleaming black under the light of the sun. Sonic had seen enough variations of it to know what it was.

A missile.

One at _least_ as large as Omega.

He felt mildly impressed and flattered that they were putting this much effort in trying to kill him.

(That did it. If they wanted him to honor their contract, G.U.N. would have to drag him back kicking and screaming.)

"Dammit!"

"Any ideas?"

Their winged pilot nodded furiously. "Yes." She reached down and looked at the control panel with a frown. "G.U.N. has equipped the plane with something to deal with missiles, especially heat-seeking ones." Letting out a small cheer of success, the master spy pushed a small yellow button barely buffer than her fingernail. "I'll deploy flares, and that should take care of it!"

Nothing happened.

She pressed the button again; no response. Shadow sneered at the pale bat's expression of surprise. "If the controls have been hacked, what makes you think that the flares would work?" The ebony male said mockingly. Rouge turned around and offered the exasperated Ultimate Lifeform a menacing glare.

"I'm going to-"

"Can you please save the couple spat for later? I want to live. Thanks." Sonic interrupted dryly as he placed his hands on his hips and tried to stare down at the two mobians, despite being the shorter of the three.

Rouge huffed. "And here I thought the couple spat was your thing, hedgehogs." A low hiss from Shadow and a garbled attempt at a comeback from Sonic were her only responses, ones she tuned out as she turned back to the control panel. "If I can't steer the plane, we are sitting ducks for that thing..." The master spy muttered with irritation as she tried several other buttons to no success. Her eyes suddenly widened and she turned her head around to yell. "Omega!" Rouge shouted, earning herself a mechanical sound as the robot acknowledged her. "Hack the plane, try to throw off their control of the main system!"

The ruby optics blinked and Omega shook his head in a surprisingly human-like manner. **"Negative."** It intoned from it's spot in the middle of the plane, the creature's voice barely loud enough to be heard over the roar of the plane's propellers. **"The attackers are blocking me from accessing its data core. Our vehicle has been compromised."** It paused, thoughtful. **"I suggest evacuation."**

Rouge's face fell. "Damn." She said under her breath. "I was hoping we could keep the plane from crashing. The damages are going to come straight from our paychecks."

Sonic gave her a half-hearted glare. "Just be glad they pay you." The cobalt male said with a small scowl of discontentment. "At least you're not getting blackmailed into this whole mess."

"We don't need to cause unwanted property damage yet." Shadow stepped in, his low voice gathering the attention of the two other mobians. "It does seem that we can't rely on conventional means to avoid them, but there are other ways to stop that missile."

"We should also avoid making that thing crash." Rouge pointed out as she continued to press buttons on the control panel, desperate to get some kind of reaction from the vehicle. It was ineffective, but she kept trying. "G.U.N. will have our asses if we manage to cause a forest fire."

"Great." Sonic said sardonically as he eyed the approaching projectile. "A few bushes and rabbits first, then those who are in danger of getting blown to smithereens."

"I didn't know you can understand that word."

"I'm a person of many talents."

"Really?" Rouge said in a way that made the blue hedgehog falter. He seemed to have realized he had blindly walked into her trap. "Then how about you-"

Shadow suddenly stood up straighter, the Ultimate Lifeform's eyes alight with purpose."Faker!" He barked, cutting Rouge off and earning a small jump from the sapphire hero, as well as a apprehensive stare. "How good are you with that shield technique?!" Sonic opened his mouth to respond, but the impatient black hedgehog cut him off. "Never mind. Just cover the plane with it."

Taken off guard by the sudden command, Sonic stared at his rival owlishly. "Have you forgotten the last time I did that?" He crowed, noticing how Rouge winced at the memory. "I mean, I trained a lot since then, but don't you think we'll have a better luck-"

He really didn't like the way Shadow's eyes narrowed. Sonic had seen that stare before, and knew that the ebony speedster only used it in a handful of special situation.

Namely, when the Ultimate Lifeform saw it fit to make his opponent know what a Chaos Blast looked like.

"Just get on with it, _hedgehog_."

Well, couldn't argue with that, especially with that tone of murder.

Giving his rival a small scowl in retaliation -and earning a sneer for his troubles, as Shadow still surpassed him in leaps and bounds when it came to looking like someone pissed in their coffee during the morning- the young blue hero took a deep breath and searched deep within himself for a soft coldness only he could sense. He felt something twitch within his chest, making him smile slightly. It seemed as if the Plates were eager to stretch their metaphorical legs.

He pulled onto his power, tugging at the mythical artifacts; they obeyed the wordless command eagerly, cold spreading down his arms and pooling in his hands. Glancing down, he was pleased to see that a faint iridescent glow was covering his fingers. Stretching his hands out in front of him, facing the cockpit's window -ergo, the approaching missile- he allowed it to trickle out of his body, swirling around him as it expanded, the weak coloration quickly growing more present and vibrant as their owner urged it forwards into a spherical shape.

 _"Just fucking hurry, you fool!"_

A sickening crack echoed across the cockpit as the missile slammed into the front of the Ether Shield, the sphere expanding just in time to cover the nose of the plane. It gave the three mobians a front row view of the projectile as it smacked into the barrier before exploding.

The wall of energy was only able to partially block the blast, as flames spread over the so here and reached the unprotected back of the plane. Tremors travelled the small vehicle, forcing the three to the floor. Sonic looked around in a panic, his terror growing as he felt the barrier collapse after taking the initial brunt of the attack.

Most of the plane's front had been kept intact, but besides the cockpit everything else had been reduced to flames. Emerald eyes caught the shape of Omega as the robot rose up with the help of his thrusters, escaping the fiery inferno that had once been a vehicle. The machine quickly left his line of sight as the cockpit answered the call of gravity and plummeted downwards, taking the three mobians with it.

Rouge leaped out of her seat with a furious growl and rushed to the cockpit's entrance, Shadow in tow. Sonic trailed after them, thinking of what he could do -transform and take flight, or hope he landed on enough branches to break his fall?

Trusting in his allies -and his ability to shift into Vicini's true from before he turned into a pancake against the ground- the young blue hedgehog blindly jumped out of the falling death trap.

Gravity caught him for a fraction of a moment before he suddenly wasn't falling anymore, the heavy presence of Newton's law held at bay by the red streaked arm wrapped around his waist, pressing him against the chest of a familiar being. He felt the need to sneeze as the soft fur tickled his sensitive nose, but knowing whom the said chest fur belonged to, Sonic forced down the urge and began silently choking as a result.

This could be worse. A part of Sonic tried to comfort him by whispering into his ears, and the young cobalt male found himself reluctantly agreeing with it. They could still be over the sea, for example.

Shadow completely ignored his rival's actions, his burning red eyes fixed on the remains of the plane crashing into the jungle, lifting mounts of trees, rocks and copious amounts of dirt. While there was the chance that the forest caught fire, one look at the thick clouds above informed the Ultimate Lifeform that the heavy rain would likely extinguish the flames in the next few hours.

The said black hedgehog was holding onto Omega with his free hand, the war robot's thrusters letting out a great amount of fire and smoke as the machine slowly moved away from the crash site. The muscles of his left arm were tense, straining to hold onto with both their owner and the blue hedgehog's weight. Sonic noted the later very clearly despite the forest of white fur assaulting his poor nose, and his eyes narrowed as a result.

"Shads. You can let go now." He whispered, mentally cheering as the spoken words caused his breath to push back the tickling white fur, away from his abused nose.

"Shut up." The older male said with a hiss. "You can barely swim, what makes you think you can get down unharmed? I'm not carrying your ass all the way to a extraction point, hedgehog."

Fawn cheeks flushed as the azure hero glared up at his counterpart. "Hey! There is no need to say that!" The blue hedgehog fumed, irritated. "I can handle this just fine. Let go!"

The arm merely tightened around him as carmine orbs narrowed down at him, almost reprimanding.

"C'mon Shads, let go." A crooked grin grew upon peach lips. "Aren't you a worry warts." The sapphire speedster felt the strong arm reluctantly relinquish it's iron grip around his waist, allowing him to easily slid out from beneath the Ultimate Lifeform.

He could have transformed in the other's arms, but Sonic didn't know and certainly didn't want to know what would happen if undiluted Ether energy met the Chaos-filled flesh of his rival. As the cobalt speedster fell he drew onto the vibrant energy swirling within his chest; his body melted into iridescent light, twisting, shrinking and warping until it finally settled and red-tipped wings stretched wide, slowing his descent.

Sonic's now sapphire eyes looked up as Omega began lowering itself to the earth. Rouge leapt off the machine's shoulders and joined the transformed hero in the skies, circling above the black and red machine patiently as Omega painstakingly cut off the power of his thrusters, lowering itself and it's cargo without harm.

Shadow jumped off a few feet before the robot touched the ground, landing nimbly of the plush grass with the grace of a cat. Rouge followed behind, and Sonic took his time to cuff Shadow over the head with one of his wings before flying behind the white bat and transforming back, safely out of the fuming ebony male's reach.

He was also the only one with the decency to talk after this fiasco.

"...so...what now?"

Not too far away, part of the smoldering plane exploded, sending a plume of smoke flying high into the atmosphere, making the cobalt hero wince and Rouge shake her head in defeat. As for Shadow, he looked like someone had added a bucket full of lemon to his morning coffee.

xxxxxxxx

The way his rival kept staring at the lake unnerved him.

The smaller male was sitting on the shore of the body of water, cross-legged, gazing deeply into the murky waters as if they held the secrets of the universe. His gloves had been discharged to the side, adding to the mystery. The emerald eyes were dark and unmoving, fixed in place and staring at something Shadow couldn't see, but had caught the younger's attention completely. The Ultimate Lifeform watched on from his spot further in the shade, silent as a statue as he observed the events unfold.

The fawn hands suddenly rose gracefully, palms open and pointing at the lake. Shadow shifted against the tree trunk he was leaning on, growing more alert as he waited for something to happen.

He blinked when a small sliver of water gently rose from the lake, twirling gracefully like a feral snake. The stream twitched, curled and looped, hovering inches above the water as it offered it's creator and the ebony hedgehog a small, amusing dance. Ruby eyes shifted to the emerald orbs of the blue hedgehog, noting the narrowing of his brows and the soft biting of his lower lip as the cobalt speedster concentrated fully on his task.

Shadow was entranced by how the sapphire's hands move in accord to the snake, seemingly helping the hero channel Ether into the substance without much effort. There wasn't much movement from his hands, just small tugs and pushes to help him train until he could do it without using his body as a channel. It was mesmerizing, almost soothing for Shadow to watch the lithe blue male work on honing his skills, and the Ultimate Lifeform leaned back, feeling strangely at peace with himself.

The water snake began growing, inflating as it gathered water from the lake until it was as thick as a pencil and as long as his arm. It continued to dance just above the Blue Blur's head, slowly growing more defined as it's surface gained the fine details of shimmering scales and the head thinned, becoming triangular and more elaborated. The darker of the two mobians watched on in silence, fascinated by the growing level of control Sonic had over the construct. It was far from perfect -one side of the snake's head was bulging, the quantity of water used was small and around the end of the tail it lost the fine detail of the sharp scales, but it was still interesting to watch.

"Done!" The sudden voice made his younger rival squawk and jump to his feet; the snake reared back dangerously, opening it's mouth as if trying to defend it's creator before bursting into inanimate water and falling back down into the lake.

Oblivious as to what she had done, Rouge sauntered over to the two hedgehogs, smirking as she fiddled with her communicator watch. "I finished the call." She explained, smirking as Sonic rose to his feet, glancing back at the lake for a moment before looking back at her with interest. "They can't bring us equipment so deep into jungle, but G.U.N. sent me the coordinates of the meeting spot." She tutted softly. "We have to report there by tomorrow midday before starting our assignment."

"Great!" Sonic cheered, bouncing in place as he snatched his gloves off the ground and put them on. He suddenly paused, looking back at the master spy and gauging Rouge's expression. "Huh...how far are we again?"

The female shrugged nonchalantly. "Just a few hundred miles. We'll have to find a place to rest for the night, but otherwise we should get to Kilimanjaro by the end of the morning." The white bat spread her wings wide before leaping off the ground, flying over the quilled heads of the two hedgehogs. "Just follow me and you'll be fine!"

Sonic let out a loud whoop as he stretched his legs before rushing after the jewel thief, his joyous laughter bouncing off the thick vegetation around them. Shadow let out a heavy sigh as the spiky blue head of his young companion disappeared between the bushed, eagerly chasing Rouge in a makeshift game of tag.

(It seemed that for the blue idiot, everything a game.)

A low rumble came from behind the ebony warrior as Omega charged his thrusters, getting ready to join Rouge in the skies, as the jungle was too thick and easily flammable for the machine to simply plow through. Ruby eyes gave the robot a sideway glance; Omega caught the stare and nodded, slowly increasing the power of it's thrusters.

Both the Ultimate Lifeform and the war machine shoot off into the woods, determined to catch up to their comrades.

xxxxxxxxx

They ran unperturbed until the sun had fallen beyond the horizon and the gleaming moon was high above their heads. They took no breaks, heading straight towards Tanzania. The crash site however had been two countries away from the location of their mission, so by the time they entered Tanzania -according to Omega, but Sonic didn't put much weight on it- the mobians were exhausted.

Even Shadow was panting, the normally stoic Ultimate Lifeform's incredible endurance not enough to keep him running after spending the last seven hours doing just that. Rouge had dropped and was half-asleep in Omega's arms, the master thief unable to keep up as her stamina didn't have the aid of being a bio-engineered creation or having a body specialized for running for endless periods of time. Sonic wasn't better off, the sapphire hedgehog reluctantly taking a dip in a nearby pond to get rid of the layer of sweat matting his bright blue fur. His legs were sore and throbbing; it had been a good workout, but as bruised and battered as he was, the cobalt hero was pretty much done for the day.

They decided to settle down in a forest nestled between two sharp hills, where they found a sizable cave -probably a old den. They could sleep in peace there, as filthy and small as it seemed, barely able to fit a standing Omega. As tired as they were, the mobians couldn't afford to be picky.

There was just one tiny problem.

The once scorching temperature had dropped to near-freezing; Omega remained unfazed when faced with the lack of heat, but it's organic companions were in a whole other situation. Both Rouge and Sonic's pelts were fluffed up in a attempt to keep the cold at bay, and even Shadow seemed uncomfortable as he looked around for a place to sleep.

...then again, the ebony hedgehog was known to dislike anything relating to dirt and grime, so that had to mean something seeing as they were inside a old cave filled with spiderwebs.

Fortunately Rouge had a solution for the low temperature problem.

Just _not_ something Sonic was expecting.

"Are you sure about this?" The insecure cobalt male asked as he eyed his rival, sure that the other would use Chaos Control to get back to Station Square and leave them behind.

The ruby eyes were sharp and narrowed in distaste as they watched a certain white bat bustle around, checking the cave for a good spot to lay down. She smirked as she found a relatively dry and dusty spot near the bottom of the small cave, and her smile stretched as she noticed a lack of bugs. The lack of humidity had driven off the small insects, as the cave had no source of moisture they required to survive.

"Don't worry, hon." Rouge reassured him as she sat down and stretched, feeling her bones pop back into place and her sore muscles pull pleasantly. She tapped the ground next to her, and Sonic obediently plopped down at her side. "We won't get cold like this. I've done it before; Shadow's the best heater you can have." A wordless grunt escaped the onyx male at this, causing Rouge to chuckle.

"...really?" The skeptic speedster looked on between the two, wondering what kind of relationship the mobians had.

Rouge waved her hand, almost as if she was batting his worries away. "Hmm. Something about high density making his temperature very high." Almost immediately the Ultimate Lifeform growled, the immortal apparently disliking the lack of proper terminology.

"My inner Chaos energy keeps my body in a constant high temperature." Shadow clarified with a dry tone, looking down with irritation.

"...does that mean we have to snuggle?" Sonic squawked as his ears twitched nervously. "Because you do realize that hedgehogs are prickly as _fuck_ and don't make very good pillows-"

"Blue, shut up." The cerulean hero had the intelligence to follow the order.

"Omega," Crimson optics turned to the source of the rumbling voice. Shadow returned the blank stare with narrowed garnet orbs. "...how many blankets do you have in your emergency space?"

 **"One, Agent Shadow."**

The three mobians glanced at each other. This wasn't going to end well.

xxxxxxxx

Nobody had perished in the ensuing mad dash for the single blanket. Shadow didn't know if he should consider it to be a miracle or a divine punishment.

Seeing the situation he was currently trapped in, the Ultimate Lifeform was starting to lean towards the later of the two. With Rouge snuggled into his back and Sonic's back quills digging into his chest the ebony hedgehog was quite literally fixated between the younger mobians, with a growing part of him beginning to contemplate murder.

 _Especially_ if the Faker kept fidgeting so much.

Blood red eyes glared down at a oblivious, slumbering hedgehog as the blue form twisted and turned beneath the dark green blanket. The triangular ears twitched every once in a while, catching Shadow's nose and making the irritated onyx male want to sneeze.

He looked away, anywhere but the two prone forms nestled against him, determined on blocking out his companions.

The rays of moonlight trickling in from the cavern's entrance caught his attention; Omega sat at the opening of the cave, blocking any animals from coming in with his bulky frame. The light that managed to worm it's way in reflected against the black, red and white hull of the machine, bathing the surroundings in a soft red light.

Shadow couldn't see the robot's optics, but by the slackening of the thick arms and the bowing head, he knew that Omega was in stand-by mode. It didn't bother him to know that the machine was sleeping while standing guard; the robot was highly sensitive even in sleep, and would probably be awoken several times during the night by the rustle of leaves and the scampering animals.

A soft groan took his attention away from the slumbering machine, and Shadow frowned as he felt Sonic shift against him. Looking down, he noticed that the hedgehog's features were twisted into a pained frown. Another grunt escaped the smaller male, followed by a pained whimper. The younger hero started twitching and turning in his sleep, the frown on his face growing darker.

Shadow watched his rival whine and cry out softly in his sleep in silence, feeling a mixture of annoyance and pity towards the cobalt speedster. Annoyance because he was trying to sleep, and the fool wasn't helping with his childish yelping, but also pity because it felt strange to see the blue one so vulnerable. The cerulean ears were lowered against the hero's head, and Sonic was curled into himself prospectively, back quills brushing against Shadow's chest fur.

What brought him to act however, was when the blue eyelids fluttered and he caught a glimpse of light from within the emerald orbs.

 _Better calm him down now than have him reshape the local landscape...or us._

He carefully grasped a twitching blue ear between two digits, mindful of his claws -the last thing he wanted was for the blue idiot to wake up and cause a scene just for a nicked ear. Thankfully, trapped in his nightmare as he was, the sapphire hedgehog didn't notice the other's hold on the sensitive appendage. Shadow took advantage of this and rubbed the base of the ear, knowing it was a very delicate part of a mobian hedgehog's anatomy.

The light petting seemed to do the job, to the ebony immortal's relief. Sonic's tense form slowly relaxed, uncoiling like a spring and melting against Shadow's own as their owner slipped deeper into his dreams. Sapphire quills returned to their limp, dormant state, and the electrifying glow behind blue eyelids slowly died down. Shadow released the breath he had been unknowingly holding and dropped his head back down against the ground, nose twitching with irritation as the long blue quills adorning his counterpart's head brushed against the sensitive appendage.

Suddenly, when he thought he would finally be able to sleep, the blue form turned around, startling Shadow out of his thoughts. The onyx warrior raised an eyebrow as the other buried his face into the white tuff of fur on Shadow's chest and stayed there, content.

For a moment Shadow thought about kicking his annoying counterpart away, but the desperation twisting Sonic's face made him pause. Sighing, he reached down and pulled the other closer, a strange satisfaction making itself known from the darkest corners of his mind as the weariness on the other's features slackened.

xxxxxxx

 _Drip...Drip...Drip..._

He watched with detachment as the boiling droplets of water slid down the stalactite, the liquid heated up by the lava lying beneath the hard rock under the man's feet. A slow, lazy grin spread over pale lips as the emerald eyes looked away, scanning their surroundings. Their owner stood up and brushed the dirt off his black coat before walking over to the end of the cavern.

Green eyes took in the large stone doors in silence, noting the large burn marks around the bottom of the structure from when they had tried to blow it open, but failed miserably.

The gates were built out of a strange dark material, much like onyx, and had been sculpted and worked on with diligent care. Knowing how old the structure was, it had all been done by hand, and everything was perfect. The design of dancing trees on the support pillars on each side, the birds and serpents clinging to the branches; the doors themselves were even more ornamental than the pillars, depicting a crowd of bowing humans staring up in adoration to a circular disk with nine lines carved deeply into the stone. Small arrays of runes ran around the edges of those nine slits, bringing out the unnaturally straight and regular shape of the sun's rays.

He took his time admiring the sun and the lines, frowning at the symbol. It had been everywhere in the tablet they had found, and the regularity of the nine lines perplexed him. Their meaning was unknown to him, and this lack of knowledge frustrated him.

Especially when he could taste the energy inside, ancient and trapped in slumber, beckoning him closer.

The human could only lick his lips hungrily.

(Soon, that power would be theirs. He did not know what it was, but it had so much _life_ it was almost **painful** to be apart of it.)

Percival righted himself as he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. Turning around, he was greeted with the dull eyes of five humans, all wearing ratty clothes from the heat of the inactive volcano and holding simple handguns for defence. They were gazing at him with weariness, tired from the lengthy excavation they had just done to clear this cavern and distrustful of their unusually pleased superior, who seemed unperturbed by the scorching heat.

Realizing that they were waiting for him to speak first -how cordial of them!- Percival gave them a smile of delight and uttered: "Are the preparation finished, gentlemen?"

"Yes." One of the men grunted. "The other exits have been sealed off -save for two."

"Good." The paler man murmured with a purr, turning around and gazing at the black gates one more time.

"Sir?"

"What?"

"What should we do now?"

Silence.

"Good question." Percival whispered, his voice barely loud enough for them to pick up. "There are many things we could do..." The green eyes looked back at the doors once again, seemingly losing focus for moment before narrowing as their owner turned his attention back to the men. "Regrettably, none of them include you."

The eldest of the men stepped forwards, a scowl darkening his features. "What do you mean by that?!" The human hissed, his hold over his weapon tightening considerably. The soldiers behind him mimicked his actions, one going as far as lifting his gun and pointing it at the smaller man's head. "Now see here, you paid us to dig up that stupid thing, now you're going to do the right thing and-"

Blood spurted across the faces of the humans, splattering against their clothes and staining it a nice shade of carmine. The soldiers watched in shocked silence as the corpse of their companion fell down with a sickening crunch, entails spilling out of his severed torso. The bullet-proof vest worn underneath the dirty white shirt had been shredded like paper, the act so quick it seemed to have been committed by a invisible force.

Like terrified cattle, the four remaining humans hurried back, some even dropping their weapons as they stared at their companion's carcass, who's face was still twisted in a unsightly scowl of anger. He hadn't seen the blow coming; in the minds of the men, it was as if he had been struck down by nothing.

After a few seconds of watching the mangled body and their minds slowly digesting what had just occurred, the humans looked up, sweaty faces as pale as the man standing before them, iddly looking at his blunt nails and frowning in distaste at the blood marring the nearly trimmed tips.

Percival seemed to feel the weight of the state for he gazed up at them with indifference, the only thing betraying his amusement being the imp-like grin splitting his lips open and baring teeth that seemed just a bit too sharp for a human male.

"Now gentlemen..."

His grin widened, the hint of a feral devil dancing within the green orbs as he took a step towards the soldier, who scrambled away, slowly edging towards the entrance of the cave.

"...shall we finish this quickly, or will you make things difficult for me?"

The horrified humans turned around and ran as if the devil himself was in pursuit, not missing the sly gleam in the man's eyes.


	21. Mountain Climb

**This chapter is finished. FINALLY.**

 **I'm gonna work on the next one now. Gotta focus.**

* * *

"Come on guys, we're almost there!"

 _I should have thrown his ass outside._ Shadow glared at the blue back, deeply wishing he could kick the young idiot off a steep cliff without reprisal.

He could always trip the other off a cliff and make it look like a incident...he'd done assassination missions before...

The sun had barely risen and it was already bearing down on them mercilessly, burning rays of light clashing against the black fur of the irritated ebony male as his temperature grew to become unbearable, and if Shadow wasn't a Ultimate Lifeform he knew his insides would have been cooked long before the group reached Kilimanjaro.

Thankfully, the impressive mountain came to view before Shadow's fur began steaming, and had he not been less in control of his emotions he would have cried out in relief. Sonic held no qualms for self-control -or pride- however, letting out a exceedingly loud whoop of joy as he pranced down to the small village nestled at the foot of the great mountain, long sapphire quills bouncing against his back at each step.

Four large robots stood guard at the edge of the town, their slick, dark blue carapaces gleaming under the harsh sunlight as they aimed towards the tall mountainside, silent and still like statues. It made Shadow wonder if they were even active.

A jeep sat near the massive robots, taking advantage of the broad shadows the machines created with their bulk to escape some of the scorching heat. The familiar symbol of stars and GUN painted white on a black background was a dead giveaway to whom the car belonged. Gesturing for the others to follow, Shadow skated pass Sonic and headed towards the vehicle.

The F-6 Big Foots stationed next to the car shifted slightly at their arrival, but made no move to attack, their cannons still aimed at the mountain looming over them. Shadow and Rouge barely spared them a glance, but the cobalt hedgehog at their side eyed them warily.

He had fought the machines before when his rival had made his first appearance -and while they were easy, he didn't want to repeat the experience, especially near a populated area. The robots had a tendency to incinerate everything around him before even managing to singe his fur. Even he preferred keeping his pelt healthy and clean, he would prefer it even more if he didn't have to worry about a random civilian straying too close to the battlefield.

"Sonic."

The sound of his name made him turn around, emerald eyes meeting with aquamarine. The young hero caught the glimpse of a human behind the bat, entering the car once more before the armored door snapped shut, keeping him from identifying the man. Even if didn't know the human however Sonic had felt the almost visible cloud of distaste hovering around the soldier.

He seemed almost as gloomy as Shadow.

"Drink this." Rouge spoke up once more, bringing his attention back to the master thief. The bat handed him a bottle of water, which he snagged and began gulping it down greedily. The cold taste eased his parched throat, and he sighed in relief before giving her a look of utter gratefulness.

Rouge smiled softly at his reaction, amused by how easily the blue one could be pleased. "We just spoke with one of the captains." She began speaking once Sonic finished off the bottle and tossed in the jeep's open cargo area, grin growing wider when hearing a grunt come from the inside of the vehicle. "The mountain's been cleared of hikers and tourists, so we have the free to go without having collateral damage." The white bat faltered. "Also..."

Sonic raised an eyebrow at her hesitation. "Also what?" He asked, frowning.

Rouge sighed at his expecting look and opened her mouth to speak, but a familiar deep voice echoed from Sonic's left, the sudden sound startling the two mobians:

"They saw a missile matching the description of the one who hit us come from the top of the mountain." Shadow finished as he stepped pass the two, Omega patiently following after his heels. Sonic's eyes narrowed slightly at the new information. "We have the green light to start the mission, so I suggest you move."

"We have to scout the mountain range for their base." Rouge let out a heavy sigh of exasperation. "Damn. This is going to take a bitchload of work."

"Not necessarily." Shadow replied flatly. "When they fired the missile, they showed us their location. The search zone has been narrowed down considerably." The Ultimate Lifeform looked up the mountain with narrowed eyes, glaring at the natural, towering mass of stone as if it had only itself to blame despite being a inanimate object.

The sun pressing down on them wasn't making things easier.

xxxxxxxx

...it did, in fact, make things much worse.

 _"Son of a bitch!"_

"I thought you didn't like cursing, Faker."

"Shut the bloody hell up, Shads!" A small yelp of pain came from below as the cobalt hero nearly slipped up and smashed his face against the almost increasingly heated path of stone. "This is hell!"

"You contaminated him, hon." Rouge exclaimed as she watched the blue hedgehog hastily hop from rock to rock while muttering under his breath as the sole of his shoes slowly began heating up with the boiling temperature they absorbed from the rocks. "He can't be a goody two-shoes forever. It was bound to happen."

Shadow's generous reply was a huffed grunt.

"Will the both of you shut up!"

"I don't get it." Rouge continued on, ignored the cry of pain echoing below as Sonic accidentally touched the ground with his hands when he lost balance, nearly turning the limbs into steak from the sheer heat being absorbed into the mountain's surface. He hobbled about across the path, a speck of sapphire dancing oddly on the mountainside. The only release they had was the fact that the higher they got, the more the temperature dropped. "Why don't you simply fly your way up, Blue?"

"I kind of want to keep my Ether reserves full in case of danger." Sonic responded icily as his face twisted into a small sneer. "I really don't want to go on a two-day sleep and eating binge because I abused my abilities like after Egghead decided to treat us to his most _wonderful_ brand of hospitality."

"...and how generous he was." Rouge commented sarcastically as she flapped her wings higher and soared above the group, using the heat from Omega's thrusters to ascend without wasting too much energy.

Shadow kept silent through the conversation, keeping his eyes peeled for a opening in the mountain's surface. Kilimanjaro's sides were sharp, abrupt and suddenly, the heat from the sunlight making things worse as his companions struggled under the power of the burning star. The ebony warrior was merely irritated by the rising heat, and would only show how much the temperature was affecting him when a gust of wind swept over the mobians, bringing them a small form of relief.

The dark hedgehog's narrowed as he mulled over the information given to him by the G.U.N. captain that had been waiting for him. He did understand what the human explained, but there was something that didn't add up...

...how had the targets known where they were? Or hacked into the plane so easily? Surely it couldn't be so simple...right? His frown grew deeper, scarlet eyes darkening. No, not it couldn't. Not with a plane designed to be virtually untraceable. It had been deliberate, calculated and most of all, planned.

...which could only mean there was a mole on G.U.N. who fed these criminals with information. Strangely enough, the thought only mildly irritated Shadow. It would have been stupid to think G.U.N. was traitor-free, especially with all the shady business the organization had their fingers in. The Ultimate Lifeform had been part of the darker side of the Guardians of the United Nations, a side so dark and corrupted it would give his younger rival a heart attack just learning about it. With his expertise on the subject, he wasn't surprised to discover that G.U.N. was compromised.

 _The Commander had always been too greedy for his own good..._

Meanwhile below the black hedgehog, Sonic was still caught up with the slight problem of his hands and feet being boiled alive. Leaping from rock to rock like a locus seemed to have no effect, as his shoes steadily rose in temperature and his toes were swimming in sweat. Sonic sighed at this, stuck between burning his feet on the hot rocks or accidentally falling to his death.

Unfortunately for anyone who knew him, the blue hedgehog could be quite creative when he wanted it too.

 _"What are you doing?!"_ Shadow' venomous hiss was left ignored, echoing across the mountainside as Sonic made himself at home on the black hedgehog's shoulder, orange wings closing shut on his small back. This form didn't cost him as much as Rio's, so it was a definite plus. He knew that there was some forms that were just so big they classified as I am truly fucked let's get this shit over with, so the fact that the first form he had was such a small, nimble creature was a definitive plus for the cobalt speedster.

At the black hedgehog's hateful glare Sonic let out a chirped purr, the sharp orange horns atop of his head gleaming under the sun as butting his forehead against the other's cheek as a way to reassure him -and further irritate the elder. Shadow's face went gone purple at this, the slight twitch of the black eyelids signifying just how much the ebony one wanted revenge. Sadly for the obsidian fighter, with a mobian and a machine as witnesses, he couldn't reach up and snap the orange imp's thin neck without reprisal.

Sonic's small mouth twisted into a small, victorious smirk as Shadow had no choice but to look ahead and put more force in his shoes, sending them flying further up, getting closer to their destination according to Omega's clipped voice echoing behind them. The shift-shaper perched on his shoulder closed his small wings tightly, not wanting to get picked off by the howling winds forcing air into the feathered appendages.

A relatively flat platform drew their attention, the large wooden boxes meant for storage left unattended at the entrance of a cave signifying that they had found their target. Sonic spread his wings, leaped off a black shoulder before gracefully gliding down to the outcrop, imitated by Rouge who soared above him, her larger frame casting a noticeable shade on the ground below. Shadow let himself drop like a rock, hitting the platform in a crouched position.

He watched from the corner of his eyes as the orange imp circled over the platform before landing at his side, apricot fur losing detail as iridescent light grew from every pore on the being's body. Shadow could only stare as the ball of light grew longer, forming a slim shape and familiar curved quills before settling. Sonic shook his head and stretched upon returning to his natural form, content.

The sapphire hedgehog looked around, ignoring his companions as they did the same. The heavy silence was unnerving. "This place looks abandoned..." The young hero muttered as he looked around, noting the lack of movement, save the cloths stretched over the boxes flowing under the wind's power.

None payed mind to his comment. "Spread out." Shadow barked as he pulled out a firearm from his quills, making Sonic wince at the sight and look away. He knew that this mission might end up in bloodshed -he was far from a stranger to violence- but it still made him uneasy. "Omega, scan the site. Identify the location of any human-shaped heat sources you can find."

"Affirmative." The war robot droned out as it stepped forwards, crimson optics surveillance the landscape. "I will shoot on sight if a target is acquired." Was that glee they heard coming from the robot's normally dull and detached delivery?

Sonic made a face at the metal being's words. He knew Omega could be destructive when it wanted, but he hadn't expected this. There was a difference being told about it and hearing it with his own ears.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Regrettably, the tense peace was quickly broken. The jade eyes of the young hero were quick to catch the glimpse of a metallic silver sheen coming from a higher plateau, gone as quickly as he had noticed it. Sonic did however trust his keen eyesight, and immediately turned to his companions and began yelling:

"Guys!" He exclaimed, noting that after his shout more of the metal shines became visible. Oh bloody fuck. Good going Sonic, you should have whispered. "There are shooters above us!" He saw both aquamarine and ruby eyes widen in alarm; Shadow was driven into action grabbing Rouge and practically throwing her behind a boulder before taking cover himself.

Just to top it all off, Omega seemed to have finished scanning the terrain and had come to a similar conclusion, the robot's booming voice echoing across the mountainside. "Agents, I have detected five signatures coming from the-"

The sudden gunshots startled him, but his instincts took over long enough for Sonic to throw himself to the ground, feeling bullets fly over his head in the process. He rolled to the side, quickly rolling into a ball and using his speed to go hide behind a crate. A quick look behind told him that his two companions were still behind their refuge, and Omega, being made of metal, came out unscathed from the attack. The machine was slightly miffed about the assassination attempt however, judging by the way it roughly turned it's hands into cannons and began retaliating with heavy fire.

Sonic could hear screams from the humans unfortunate enough to cross paths with them, and he winced, feeling his legs grow weak as he heard the tale-tell splatter of blood against stone.

It seemed as if Omega had caught at least one of attackers.

Ignoring how his throat tightened and his stomach did flips within his belly, Sonic peaked his head out from his hiding spot. Green eyes widened and he threw himself back as the side of the crate exploded from a large round, showering him in sharp fragments of wood. Snarling at his brush with death, the young hero leapt out from cover and rushed towards the upper section of the plateau, dodging the bullets with ease.

He spotted the first man quickly, his dark clothing unable to keep him hidden from the young speedster. Sonic jumped upwards before slamming a foot into the man's face, sending him sprawling to the floor.

Two other men were quick to point their guns at him, but he dove out of the way and used his small stature to his advantage, running beneath the shower of metal and landing his fists into the humans' stomachs, sending them crashing into a boulders. Their weapons clattered uselessly against the ground as they rested in a heap on the floor, unconscious.

A large hand was suddenly wrapped around his neck from behind and the young hero stiffened, feeling a cold barrel press against the back of his head, deep into the jungle of sapphire spines.

Crap.

(He really should have payed more attention to his surroundings.)

"Hey buddy, I kind of like my head, so I hope I can keep it." He tried to turn his head around to look at his attacker, but a soft click from the gun quickly made him stop.

The man snarled something in a language he couldn't understand, but by the tone alone Sonic knew it wouldn't be good. With a hand holding onto his neck, threatening to shoot him in the head, this situation left very little room for error.

Oh fuck. _This is bad. This is what I get for trying to be nice..._

Growling to himself, the speedster's hands balled into fists. He cringed as he felt the hand tighten on his neck. Okay, time to think. The gun was suddenly pressed harder against his head, and the blue male grimaced. Then again, maybe maybe not.

This did it. _Sorry buddy, you're going to have a bad time._

The resigned hero took a deep breath and let go, giving in to his instincts he tried so much to bury in the darkest pits of his mind. He preferred not doing this, but in the position he was in, the cobalt hero didn't have much of a choice. He was fast, but he wouldn't have the time to tear free from the man's grip, get out of dodge and disarm the human before he was at least injured.

The fact that the man was a criminal helped a bit, but Sonic still felt guilty. He'd never been one to judge people upon meeting them, but the gun pressed against the back of his head was enough of a encouragement.

(It was just for a moment, after all. Nothing could go wrong.)

Reflexes taking over the control wheel, Sonic quickly reacted to the feeling of the man standing behind him and kicked his right leg back, catching one of his opponent's knees and snapping the bones backwards like toothpicks. The human howled, his grip loosening enough for Sonic to turn around and slap the gun out of his hands. Still going with his instincts, he punched the man in the chest, sending him sprawling on his back.

 _"Break their bones first, pet, then go for the heart."_

The dazed hero lunged at the man and landed on top of him, right hand pulling back, palm open and fingers flat, the tip of the appendages aiming at the dazed human's pectorals, right where his heart lay protected under layers of skin, muscle, fat and bone.

A hand tightened around his raised wrist, stopping the strike before it was unleashed.

"What are you doing, Faker?"

Emerald eyes blinked, snapping back into focus. Huh? Green orbs met ruby; Sonic followed his rival's line of sight and could only stare at his hand poised in a familiar gesture, the tip of the fingers glowing a slight orange as he instinctively pulled onto his sprouting fire abilities. He cringed at the sight, feeling his insides twist with dread.

He felt Shadow let go of his hand carefully, as if expecting him to try and continue his attack. The young hero's hand trembled with restraint, and the cobalt male took a deep breath as he stood off the man, ears flicking and jade eyes dark. His victim had gone unconscious from the pain, sweaty face still twisted in a grimace of pain in slumber.

 _"Break their bones first, pet, then go for the heart."_

His hands balled into fists.

This was getting out of control. The young immortal couldn't help but feel guilt. He had acted like an idiot. He's been held at gunpoint, effectively rendered unable to move less he wanted a bullet firmly lodged in his brain and decided to take advantage of his resources.

...and look where it got him.

(He could have killed the man...he would have, if Shadow hadn't stopped him.)

"I'm still waiting."

"Nothing. He was about to shoot, I reacted." His voice was very clipped. Sonic looked up to meet the ruby eyes of his rival and offered the ebony warrior a winning smile that felt -and probably looked- a bit too hollow. "Let's just get this over with, okay Stripes?"

Shadow merely examined him with narrowed eyes. Irritation at the new nickname won at the end, and the darker speedster gestured for the other to follow as he briskly turned around and made his way towards the tunnel's entrance, where a dust-covered Omega awaited.

Green eyes trailed over to the fourth member of the group, noting that the female bat had yet to follow after her teammates. She was instead looking at him with a unrecognizable expression that made his insides squirm. "What is it?" The younger of the two finally snapped, pushed over the edge by the growing silence.

"...just wondering who taught you that." Rouge murmured softly, her eyes narrowing as she noted how stiff the cobalt hedgehog suddenly became at her words.

Sonic held his head high and growled. "Nobody did. I taught myself how."

The other mobian gauged him for a moment before answering with a short voice. "We both know it isn't true." The bat said with a hint of a warning. "I'm not like my feral counterparts; I know a practiced fighting style when I see one. The only thing left to ask is how could you have learned it." The master spy shifted on her feet, aquamarine eyes darkening. "Your hand was heating up with fire, and I'm certain Vicini wouldn't have taught you that. He's not brutal enough to do it...yet it's still is a style that seems to rely on your powers."

Sonic twitched, but said nothing.

"I wonder who could have come up with it. Certainly not you."

Enough was enough for the sapphire male. "...quite the mystery, isn't it? Unfortunately for you, I don't think Shads is very patient." Sonic countered with a low hiss. "We should get going before he decides to go on without us." He whirled around and began walking towards the cave, only pausing to give the man with the shattered knee a pitying glance before continuing on his way.

This was turning out to be harder than he thought.

xxxxxxx

"The unidentified energy source has dissipated."

The man's words were greeted with thick silence.

Frowning at the lack of reply, the human turned around to question his superior -only to cry out as the screen behind him exploded in a shower of sparks and a crackle of blue lightning, making his chair tumble over and sending the unfortunate man sprawling across the rocky floor.

Wide, terrified chocolate orbs looked up as their owner hastily scrambled to his feet, glancing with dejection at his coworkers, who still sat at their own desk, ignoring what had occurred. When in a herd, a sheep did everything to not draw the wolf's attention. This was no different. He didn't blame them, but a part of him still felt betrayed.

"Doctor? Is everything alright?" He turned back to his leader, taking care to coat as much honey in his words as he could.

Brown orbs met with frigid orange, and the man couldn't help but flinch and look down, sufficiently cowed.

"There is nothing to discuss. Return to your post."

The young man nodded shakily, feeling his sweat clinging to his skin, white-cold fear spreading through his body the longer the svelte woman's eyes remained on him. He was quick to grab the destroyed screen and almost ran out of the room to get another one in his haste to get away, leaving behind a heavy silence.

This absence of sound stretched on and on, interrupted only by the faint clicks of the technicians' keyboards. The woman leaned back against her seat, breathing through her nose and closing her eyes. Her face betrayed no emotion, a pale stone mask none could break.

"It's been a while since I've seen you like this." Orange eyes snapped open at this, and the human looked over to the source of the disturbance. Her eyes fluttered, become half-lidded with amusement as she took in the sight of a younger woman with dirty blond hair and a lithe man with bright green eyes standing in the doorway, relaxed and at ease despite the hostile atmosphere of the room.

"I though I sent the both of you to Antartica."

"You did." The woman said with a haughty sniff and a shark-like grin. "We simply came back."

"And the reason is...?"

"I wanna enjoy the show." The blonde replied, giving the older woman a careless shrug. "Besides, bookworm caught scent of something interesting while we were flying over the Pacific, and decided to turn back."

The dark-haired human turned to the green-eyed man and scrutinized him. "Is that true?" She intoned, eyebrow raising questioningly.

Silence.

Tutting softly at the man's lack of answer, the woman pursed her lips and stared at the two thoughtfully. "Guess your nose is working correctly." The first woman breathed out softly, crossing her legs. She lay her head back against her seat, orange orbs staring up at the ceiling. "You already handled the workers, correct?" She drawled, not bothering to make eye contact with the arrivals.

The blonde snickered. "It's the first thing we did. Bookie was hungry." She declared with a content sigh. "It was glorious." Leaning against her smaller companion, she wrapped a heavy arm around his neck and smirked. "Wasn't it, Bookie?"

"I'll prefer if you stopped harassing me, Aiken." The man said with a clipped voice. At this, the fair haired woman snorted.

"Maybe if you started calling me by my first name I'll-"

"Percival. Dane." Both humans stopped their bickering short as the thin woman rose from her seat, her dark hair gleaming red under the white lights. "Enough." Eleonore paid no mind to their questioning glances as she walked over to a corner of the cavern and picked up a large, heavy metal case which she lifted off the ground with ease and placed on the table.

The two other humans stayed silent as the dark haired female ran a finger vertically down the box. Soft clicks echoed across the chamber as the metal cover unfolded like the petals of a young flower, displaying a thin silver cylinder. Eleonore grabbed the rod tightly and pulled, the case letting out a metallic hiss as the rest of it's contents slid out, revealing a sharp blade thinner than a sheet of paper.

The blond woman, Dane, angled her head to the side and smirked mischievously as her leader examined the weapon. "Huh. You're finally going to use it, boss?"

"Yes."

Percival frowned, his nose curling up as he edged slightly away from the newly revealed tool. "I don't think it would be effective on our intruders."

"Nonsense." The dark haired woman retorted bluntly as she slowly pulled the weapon fully out of it's case, admiring the sword under the lights. "I have methods for dealing with vermin."

Eleonore sighed softly as she trailed her nails against the flat of the blade, ignoring the thin smoke that rose where her skin made contact. A loud hiss escaped the area, sounding not unlike fire coming into contact with water.

"That blue hedgehog however, is far from one." The orange eyes suddenly switched targets, stabbing into emerald green. Percival shuffled back, head lowering slightly as he nodded. "It would bode well for you to not kill him."

"I understand." The man said with softly, the face of the blonde at his side lighting up at the prospect of a battle. "When should we start?" He murmured, ignoring the giddy light-haired female and the tense glances the workers gave him as they passed by, focusing solely on the slim figure of his mentor.

Eleonore didn't outwardly show any reactions at her words, but the docile, thoughtful gleam in her eyes told them otherwise. When she spoke next, her voice was thick with ice and sharper than the blade she carried:

"As soon as they enter the main chamber, move in." She declared, raising the sword up over her head and letting the bright lights reflect upon the pale metal. It was a mere trick of the light, that they were sure of, but the weapon seemed to glow with inner fire upon being released from the confines of the heavy box. "Tower's assistance in finding the location of the shrines was most welcome, but it's time we complete our end of the bargain."

The pale sword gleamed under the white lights, bringing out the thin iridescent swirls on the blade.

"He wanted the Ultimate Lifeform out of the way. Let us make sure his demands are met."

* * *

 **I think the scene at the cavern's entrance need to be explained.**

 **Sonic has two fighting styles; the first one is his usual tactic, which is more centred around smashing metal and bruising his opponents. He uses his legs more, since it goes well with his speed. The spindash is part of that fighting style.**

 **The second fighting style is the one Sonic used briefly in this chapter. It's the more dangerous one, because it's permanent. It's meant to break bones and tear muscles, blood vessels and organs with precise blows to the body. It's the more lethal of the two, because it's meant to keep the opponent down permanently, let it be by several broken bones leaving the person unable to move or by striking the brain with enough strength to deliver a fatal blow.**

 **It also depends more of force than agility, as speed is only used for dodging and not charging like the classic fighting style. Extreme force is placed behind each blow, and combined with a knowledge of which body part to hit for a desired effect, this is the most effective of the two fighting styles. This second one was the one created by the man that took Sonic in (which I won't still say more about him because I'm a snarky asshat), so it's understandable that Sonic, while he sees the usefulness of it, doesn't like using it in fear of accidentally maiming someone.**


	22. Hell's Chandelier

**Holy crap this took a while. Sorry.**

* * *

He knew misery loved his company, but this was getting ridiculous.

Shadow fought the urge to sneeze as dust from the cavern's ceiling fell upon them, settling on his sensitive nose. He struggled to manta in his stoic composure, grimacing briefly as the desire to sneeze faded away.

The cobalt hedgehog at his side however held no such qualms, letting out a loud squawk and nearly smacking himself unconscious against his raised hand in the process. The Ultimate Lifeform glared half halfheartedly at the oblivious speedster for this, fighting the urge to lash out against him as Sonic darted about, edging deeper into the massive cavern system, a whirlwind of chaos in every sense of the way. His blue fur gleamed under the scarce light, outline his small form.

The blue hedgehog seemed utterly oblivious of his rival's somber thoughts, and it only made Shadow more restless. It was unnerving how the younger male bounced back with every obstacle thrown in their path. Had he been in the blue one's shoes, Shadow would have gone into a rage the moment G.U.N. tried to blackmail him into doing their bidding.

He woud never allow anyone to even _try_ their hand at controlling him; Sonic however was a completely different case. The speedster had accepted being the humans' lap dog with only a few grumbles, which stumped the ebony warrior. Wasn't freedom everything the hero stood for?

Why did he let such a vile organisation steal his, as brief as the time was?

The Ultimate Lifeform knew how selfless and amicable his counterpart was, but once again he was surprised by the youngster's actions. Sonic was treating this mission as if it was a walk in the park instead of him being carried off across the ocean to be blackmailed into rounding up some criminals. The situation was just absurd in Shadow's mind; it baffled him that the smaller male bent to the will of the humans so easily.

 _I shouldn't be surprised._ Scarlet eyes stared at the blue hedgehog furtively. _He's pathetic, letting others command him around like this._ A light frown overtook the ebony immortal's features as he examined his unaware rival. And yet...

...something was not right. He didn't know the annoyance for long, but Shadow had spent enough time to notice some aspects of the mobian's demeanour were off. The Faker's silly grin was a bit more forceful than usual, and his smile was set hard on his lips. The vibrant emerald eyes lacked the bright light that made them so recognizable, and he swore he saw a hint of guilt in green orbs.

The ebony warrior cast a furtive glance over to Rouge, who was uncharacteristically silent. He didn't miss the a dark gleam in the master thief's eyes. Shadow silently wondered what kind of exchange had gone on between the two Mobians to have resulted in such a fallout. For once, he was irritated that he went ahead after stopping Sonic from killing one of the men-

The Ultimate Lifeform nearly stopped walking as the answer came clear to him. That fight might just be the reason of their dispute. After all, what occurred had been unlike anything he would expect from his counterpart. Remembering the event made Shadow feel surprisingly uneasy. The sapphire one stood for freedom and everything it meant; seeing him looking lost -so guilty- after he'd grabbed his wrist was unsettling.

The biological weapon of mass destruction could only wonder how much the cerulean one hiding from him. He knew the blue hedgehog well, but ever since the end of the Metarex war it wasn't unusual for him to witness dark clouds hover over the speedster's head, although Faker quickly cleared them away as soon as he noticed someone watching. Shadow wasn't stupid however. His smaller companion had a haunted look in his eyes.

(He wondered if the blue hedgehog trusted him enough to ever reveal his secrets.)

The cavern began thinning as the black mobian led his companions deeper into the tunnel; the temperature grew hotter as the air became dank and humid, clinging to their fur and having them feel a bit more sluggish than usual. Shadow resisted the urge to sneer. This mission was a nightmare from the very start. Shadow knew he would at least require a whole bottle of vodka to forget this hell.

A muffled curse drew the obsidian immortal out of his thoughts, making him glance at his companions -who sported slightly miffed expressions- and then at the path ahead. The Ultimate Lifeform couldn't help but scowl at their newest obstacle.

"This is going to be a problem." Rouge grumbled, and both of the mobians at her side silently agreed with the stoically delivered statement. A natural stone archway was in their path, giving them only a small opening a inch taller than Sonic for passage; normally it wouldn't be a problem, as all three mobians were pretty nimble and two of them were hedgehogs, allowing them to curl up into very tight, deadly balls of razor quills. Rouge would have no problem with this obstacle as well, her training as a professional thief allowing her to fit inside small spaces.

None of them would have difficulty passing the archway; a human could fit through it with ease. What made the three allies irate however was the fact that their non-organic companion was unlikely to fit through.

Rouge gazed the entrance intensely, muttering obscenities beneath her breath as she took in the natural stone pillars. "It's holding the ceiling up." The white bat revealed with a low voice. "Blowing it to bits is likely to make the whole thing fall on us."

"Great."

Omega let out a small metallic hiss as it stepped pass the mobians and leaned closer to the collapsed tunnel, black claws trailing against the cracked stone, leaving deep trenches. The crimson optics of the war robot glowed dimly in the darkness of the cave, bathing the cavern in a scarlet glow. The three sapients waited -quite impatiently in Sonic's part, judging by the tapping of the red and white shoes- for the machine to come to it's own conclusion.

Finally, the massive robot righted itself, towering above it's comrades with ease. The carmine machine let out something akin to a sigh, clicking it's talons together in silent fury as it spoke:

 **"I have scanned the structure; results show the residual presence of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate."**

"Gunpowder." Quite surprisingly, it was Sonic who clarified the robot's words. The cobalt hedgehog frowned as he turned to the other mobians, noticing how their expressions were unreadable. "They blew up the caves. Why would they do that? Wouldn't they trap themselves by doing this?"

"It's foolish...unless they aren't trapping themselves." Rouge muttered, her eyes darkening as she glanced at the taller ebony hedgehog. "Didn't the captain say there could be more than one exit?"

The elder nodded slowly, his gaze fixed on their newest obstacle."Given the age of the mountain and how little the cavern system has been explored, he said it was more than likely." Shadow replied, dark ruby eyes narrowing.

Curious, Sonic edged towards the opening and peering in the dark hole -only to yelp as his older rival quickly grabbed one of his quills, the sharp spine unable to slice the Ultimate Lifeform's tough skin as Shadow sharply pulled the surprised hedgehog away from the stone archway.

"Which means they intentionally destroyed the tunnel to keep large troops from moving in." The obsidian male continued, unperturbed by the glower his younger companion sent his way.

"Smart." Rouge whistled appreciatively. "Dangerous, but smart."

"More like annoying." Sonic rectified, still rubbing his sore quill as he glared his rival, scowling at the darker male's indifference. The sapphire hero briefly thought about smacking the other over his head or elbowing the arrogant bastard, but he refrained. The hero would find a better time to get his revenge. "What should we do now?"

 **"Given the situation, I am no longer able to provide direct assistance."** Omega answered, a hint of danger in it's voice. **"I will retreat and gather the humans we have defeated. Should anyone try to follow you from behind, I will annihilate them."** The machine exclaimed quite blandly, ignoring the expression of incredulity the blue hedgehog did as it turned around and began walking up the tunnel, towards the small amount of daylight that filtered in.

"Be careful, Omega." Rouge said absently as she examined the archway, peering in. Sonic glared at Shadow halfheartedly, silently wondering why the ebony hedgehog wasn't grabbing the bat by her hair or wing for getting too close to the small entrance.

Omega peered down at them for a moment before turning back around, claws clinking together loudly. Even if he knew the creature very little, Sonic could see that the robot was irritated by their situation.

 **"Farewell. Paint your path red, organic fleshbags."**

"He has issues, doesn't he?" The mortified blue hero asked faintly as the war machine left, making the ground shake with each heavy footstep.

"Don't start, honey." Rouge exclaimed with a mild chuckle, shaking her head. She stepped into the small archway, tucking her wings in as to pass through more easily. "That's a can of worms you don't want to open." She added over her shoulder, just before slipping into the archway and disappearing into the darkness.

Shrugging, the Blue Blur ducked through the small gate with ease due to his nimble and short stature. Shadow stood behind him, patiently waiting until the last strand of blue fur had vanished before turning around and glancing at the upper section of the tunnel, making sure that he could still hear Omega's footsteps slowly fading away before walking through the archway after his younger rival.

The opening, as it turned out, was in fact a small but long tunnel precariously carved through the collapsed cave. The dark immortal almost smacked his face into a wall of blue quills more than once, and would have accidentally impaled himself on the deadly spines had he not possessed eyes that could see through the darkness as if it was daylight.

Still, he couldn't help but growl at the younger hedgehog as if it was the blue one's fault; the small blue ears perked up in front of him, signifying that the other had heard the sound. Soft, amused chuckles were the black hedgehog's only response, making him snarl and want to kick the fool down and walk over his battered form.

A loud gasp startled him; Shadow snapped his head up and nearly broke his skull against the ceiling in the process, golden Chaos churning at the tip of his fingertips as he heard Rouge curse loudly somewhere in front of him. Grunting in pain, the Ultimate Lifeform opened his mouth to question why such colourful language was needed, but he paused when as he quickly discovered what had caused the disturbance.

The stench of rotting flesh was all but assaulting his nose, making his lips and nose curl in disgust. The thick, humid air of the cavern was all but carpeted in it, and had he not smelled worse during his line of work Shadow knew he would have doubled over and thrown up from the smell alone.

It didn't mean that scene was less unpleasant, however, when he stepped out of the small tunnel and into a broad cave.

The stone beneath his feet was red.

Shadow sombrely stepped into the large cave, feeling his shoes become heavy and slick from the drying blood. Eyes the same shade than the murky liquid surveilled the cave in silence, scanning for threats. The chamber was eerily silent, the nimble footsteps of the black male's companions and the quiet crackle of electricity the only sounds that pierced the veil of silence. The Ultimate Lifeform's scarlet eyes travelled to the source of the inorganic sound, noting the broken lanterns hanging from the ceiling, their cables holding together by mere threads of metal, sparks occasionally lighting the end of the damaged cords.

Guns lay thrown about the cavern, twisted polls of metal with nearly unrecognizable features. Shadow kneeled down next to the remains of one weapon and carefully lifted it up with one hand, a frown growing on his face as the handle crumbled in his grasp, the sliver of metal still connecting it to the rest of the device unable to handle its weight.

 _It's useless._ The Ultimate Lifeform gently turned the gun over, his gloved fingers trailing over the large dents littering the tool. _Hacked apart, but by what?_ The dark immortal suddenly glanced back at the blood covering the floor, noting the deep trenches marking the walls, ground and ceiling of the cavern. Ruby eyes looked back at the ruined weapon, noticing the similarities between the marks on the stone floor and the gun. It almost looks...chewed on...?

Footsteps echoed behind him, alerting the obsidian one of Rouge's approach. Scarlet eyes glanced back at the master thief, noting her grimace. Unlike himself, Rouge never quite got used to the gruesome sights their jobs forced them to face. She coped better than most G.U.N. agents, but this carnage was pushing her limits.

"Any ideas?"

"Something with a jaw strength capable to bend metal came through here. The humans must have tried to fight back instead of fleeing." The ebony warrior sneered in disgust. "Fools."

"Are you sure it's something alive? Couldn't it be a robot?" Sonic asked faintly from the other side of the cavern.

"No." His rival immediately discarded the theory. "See that? Bite marks. It _chewed_ on the metal. That-" The digit moved to the cave walls. "Have been made by claws. And finally..." Shadow raised the ruined gun up for the two mobians to see, pointing at a clear substance dripping off it's surface. "...I think you're smart enough to know what this is."

"Saliva." Sonic said automatically, not bothering to call out his counterpart over the thinly veiled insult. The young hero then grimaced. "Ew." The expression only grew as Rouge kneeled down and carefully took a small sample of the horrendous liquid.

Ignoring the childish comment, Shadow stepped around the bloodbath, his eyes scanning for more clues. There were no bodies to be seen, but the keen-eyed immortal was quick to notice something among the pools of dried blood.

Strips of flesh lay scattered across the lakes of red, the thin strands mingling among the dust and rocks of the cavern. Shadow heard Rouge give out a sharp gasp as she realized what the chunks of matter floating among the drying substance, finally noticing the flesh as she was taking the sample. The smell was choking them, making their throats dry and their stomachs heavy with disgust. Shadow found himself wanting to move on.

There was nothing here for them to examine anyways.

"We need to keep moving." The eldest commanded, his voice bringing the two other mobians out of their shock. The ebony hedgehog jerked his head towards the tunnel's lower bowels, where they could see a white light. Knowing they would soon follow, the immortal turned around and started walking towards the source of the luminosity.

A muttered agreement echoed from behind him; small, quiet footsteps , assuring the striped warrior that the mobians would follow him. Unsurprisingly it was Rouge who stepped after him first, the jewel thief more used to the carnage than her blue companion. Sonic silently trailed after them, his posture tense as he struggled to reign in his emotions after making such a horrifying discovery.

Shadow's frown deepened as they finally reached the end of the second tunnel. The walls and ceiling spread out widely into a large cavern snug enough to fit a small plane. White mining lights were hung on poorly installed crochets from the ceiling, lighting the chamber.

Unlike the last cave, which had small paths leading to other tunnels, this one was a dead end.

...a it was very obviously a subject of interest for the inhabitants of the mountain.

Looming high above their heads stood a massive pair of intimidate doors; intricately decorated black clashed against the browns and greys of the cave, making the gate stand out even more. Seemingly carved out of obsidian stone, the strange doors were covered in a complex array of lines, and in the middle of it stood a large disk of stone. The gate was entirely made from the same, seamless black material, one Shadow couldn't recognize.

All three mobians paused at the sight of the gate, taken off guard by the sudden appearance of the ebony doors. It looked so...out of place which such normal surroundings. It was disconcerting to look at.

Ominous.

(A strange cold licked at their heels, setting the hair at the back of their neck on end.)

Sonic was the first to snap out of his daze, his curiosity taking over as he edged towards the strange building, blue brows furrowing as he glanced around, expecting more thugs to jump out of the shadows. The white lights however kept the place well lit, until the mess in the previous chamber. "What is that...?"

"No idea." Rouge answered breathlessly as she stepped closer to the gate, tapping it quickly. Seeing no reaction, she ran her fingers on the thick, crystal-like stone, examining the smooth object with narrowing eyes, her amazement fading the longer she stared at the gates intensely. "My guess is onyx, or something similar. It's very old."

"This must be it." Shadow said sombrely as he gazed at the doors sombrely. There was no doubt in the mobians' minds that this was their targets were looking for. "What now?"

"I don't know."

"Should we blow the door up, take a look at what's behind?" Sonic suggested as he peered into the door, as if trying to see through a imaginative crack in the stone. The gate was unnaturally smooth and symmetrical, and without the pattern of the engravings marking the seam, he would have never thought it opened at the middle.

"Too dangerous." Rouge interjected, quickly shooting the sapphire hero's idea down. "From the way it's shut, they haven't opened it yet. I wonder if there's a key for it." A deep frown darkened her features as she took a step away from the gates and stared at them in contemplation. Her wings shifted nervously on her back, the only sign her companion could denote of her inner struggle. "These markings...they're peculiar...why those nine holes? Call it a hunch, but it looks like something must fit in there."

Sonic suddenly perked up at that, jade eyes widening in realization. Nine slots. Strange markings. Familiar cold energy. While he wasn't the sharpest tool in the box, he knew what this meant.

"Wait!" The cerulean speedster called out as he stepped towards the gates, signalling for the master spy to give him space. "Move aside. I think I know what to do."

"Truly? You could have asked more nicely." Rouge sniffed as she complied, smoothly stepping to the left. "Don't get blown up, blue boy."

Sonic ignored her remark as he stood on the tip of his feet to take a closer look at the door. He stared at the markings with narrowed eyes, feeling something stir inside of him the longer he stared at the large, complex array of engravings decorating smooth black rock. He stepped even closer, instincts drawn to the mysterious structure. His hand landed on the large disk in the middle, noting with a frown the multitude of small, chicken-like scratches riddling the corners and the insides of the incisions.

They looked like some form of geometry. He glanced around, noting the natural curves of the cavern. There were no other structures like it in the chamber. No path, not stairs, no pillars, nothing. It was as if the gate had appeared out of thin air...

He gently traced the disk, feeling the texture of the stone in silence.

The cold rose around him, familiar fresh winds sinking into his heart and revitalizing him. He knew what this meant. Sonic knew what it was, but couldn't understand how it was here. He remembered his lessons well. Ether did not remain active for long without the presence of a source, unlike Chaos who fed on emotions. It shrivelled up and dissipated, and it was incredibly hard to draw it back out.

 _And yet..._

 ** _Click._** The stone disk in the middle suddenly shifted, the dark coloration turning as pale as the moon before a pulse of iridescent light travelled through the faint marks littering the gates. Emerald eyes widened at the sight, the blue hedgehog barely reacting to his companions' sudden movements and alarmed shouts behind him before the runes let out a flash of inner light as if they were miniature stars, nearly blinding him with their vibrant white light.

A force tugged at his chest gently, growing increasingly stronger as time went on; the hero allowed it to consume him, letting his instincts run free as familiar golden slabs emerged from under his skin, glowing like a pale moon as they spun softly around his heart. Buzzing made his ears twitch and Sonic followed the sound, letting the Life Plates follow the call of the black gates. He winced as they briefly left him, breaking the delicate formation he was used to seeing them in.

A sound not unlike metal brushing against stone was heard as the Plates slipped into the awaiting slots, a pulse of iridescent light travelling the decorated gate as the dormant Ether that made up the black stone awoke. Sonic watched on as the thin line between the two doors glowed faintly, the halo of the Life Plates reflecting beautifully on the smooth obsidian mineral as the artifacts retracted. The Blue Blur sighed softly as they returned to him, sinking into his chest and coiling around his heart -where they belonged.

Their return reinvigorated him; the sapphire mobian lifted his arms and stretched contently as the black gate slowly opened with a loud metallic hiss. Iridescent sparks danced along his arms, dancing in between the doors and himself. He had to restrain himself from answering the call in his blood, to draw upon the Ether in his heart and change into something completely different, something unnatural.

Footsteps echoing to his left drew him out of his daze. Jade eyes fluttered open as he cut off the flow of energy spilling out of him, not wanting the volatile power to lunge at the beacon of Chaos energy Shadow was.

"Ether."

The flat tone dripping with disbelieving skepticism was a good pointer of the Ultimate Lifeform's general state of being.

"Yup." Sonic said in a deadpan manner, himself not quite believing what just transpired. He was however someone who learned to roll with things, so the hero wasn't sporting the slightly indignant expression on his rival's features, who was still trying to overcome the absurdity of the situation. "Seems so. The whole thing is made out of dormant energy, which is weird, ya' know?" The mobian shrugged as he poked the doors, sensing that the Ether in them had returned to it's dormant form.

"How's that?" Rouged questioned as she walked over to him, peering at the shadows beyond the door. Since she was a bat, she probably saw better in the darkness than he ever would. The jewel thief seemed to have found nothing out of the ordinary and turned back to the vexed cobalt male for the much-needed answer.

Sonic could feel Shadow's heavy gaze alternate between the door and himself, but ignored it in favour of coaxing his voice into providing a suitable answer.

"Well, Ether isn't present outside of the Aether -that is, unless a great spirit or a Holder expelled the energy. Even then..." The blue hedgehog's deceptively relaxed expression turned into a frown as he understood the implications of what he'd just said. Emerald turned towards the doors, a small sense of fascination overtaking him.

Had it been built by one of his predecessors? Had the entire volcano been created by a Holder, or maybe a Element Spirit? To be fair, Sonic knew almost nothing about those who were before him, nor did he know much about the spirits themselves. Sure, the young hero knew what they were -giant shards of the Life Plates that were able to gain a conscious- but the speedster didn't know them personally. He had tended to stick to those few he knew, because from what he'd learned not all of them were friendly.

Even if he didn't have much contact with the creatures, Sonic was sure he would have heard something about-

"Faker."

 _Huh?_

He turned to Shadow; the Ultimate Lifeform seemed just a tiny bit miffed at being ignored. "Yeah?"

"We're leaving." The ebony warrior stated with a no-nonsense tone as if it explained everything, pulling out the red Chaos Emerald from his quills. Rouge stood by him, the bat's hand on the immortal's shoulder. Her other was stretched towards Sonic, inches away from his left arm. "Grab hold, Faker."

How the heck didn't he notice the two moving about? Sonic knew he was prone to daydreaming, but this was a bit overboard...which reminded him of something.

"Please repeat that for me."

"We are leaving."

"You're saying that as if it explained what you're gonna do." Sonic parroted back, his left ear flicking as dust from the ceiling fell on the sensitive fur at the tip of the appendage.

"Standard protocol." Rouge informed him sharply, putting herself between the two hedgehogs in case Shadow decided he had enough and grabbed Sonic by the quills -which would end up with a fight that would probably destroy most of the mountainside. "We are abandoning the mission."

"Wait? Why?!" The sapphire male exclaimed, surprised.

"You."

He had to love Shadow's inability to give a straight answer. Wait, actually his responses were pretty straightforwards -as in, so flat and unhelpful that you couldn't understand what he said unless he was up your face about it.

"What did I do this time?!" Explaining never was his forth, Sonic knew, but this was getting tiring. Shadow's bluntness was both a advantage and a huge disservice for those who were on the darker one's side, as the Ultimate Lifeform tended to dive into battle and ignore any attempts at assistance or teamwork.

"You did nothing, blue!" Rouge responded with her hands raised defensively, the black hedgehog at her side pinching the bridge of his nose, struggling to reign in the sudden urge to knock out the smaller hero and drag him back to base by a leg. "In all seriousness -this is a breach of protocol. Think about it, kid. Isn't it strange that you get asked to participate in a mission for a publicity stunt and just happen to be the only one capable of opening this door?"

In any other situation, Sonic would have argued that he wasn't a child -he was probably a few years older than her thanks to his immortality- but he paused, thinking over what the master thief was seeing. Because when he thought about it, Rouge was _right_.

He wasn't just the only one present capable of opening the gate -he was the only one on the planet capable of doing such a feat. Publicity stunt my ass. The cobalt hero muttered in his head, not liking where this was heading. By hiding this information, it was clear the Commander was hiding something. Sonic knew the man was manipulative, but this was something else entirely.

"How...how does he know I'm a Holder?"

"G.U.N was in charge of getting the materials for the portal Chris built. As such, they must know it's design, and what powered it."

 _Oh._ Sonic resisted the urge to grimace. He'd kind of shot himself in the foot with that one. The idea that a organization as shady as G.U.N. had access to that kind of information did not sit well with the young hero.

"Can we go now, hedgehog, or do I have to leave you here?"

"Nah, you guys can go." Sonic exclaimed confidently, turning towards the doors. Invisible cold winds rushed up to his heart, cementing his decision. "I'll handle things here." He tensed up unwillingly, knowing what would come next.

(Because there was no way his counterpart was going to let his smartness comment go.)

He proceeded to jump aside as a gloved hand tried to grab him by a quill. Spinning around with ease, Sonic met his rival's gaze head on. Shadow's expression was dark, but he could sense that the elder's destructive desires not directed at him -but the irritation shining within the ruby orbs clearly was his doing.

"Geez, rough much? Save it for the Commander."

"This isn't time for jokes, Faker. Grab my hand or I'll leave you here."

"Heh..." Sonic's voice trailed off, unsure; the green eyes stared longingly at the doors. He wasn't about to give up on a adventure, as risky as it was. Whatever lay in the darkness beyond the gates was calling out to him. Despite the lurching heat from the doors, he felt a familiar cold seeping into his bones, making him shudder. Emerald orbs darkened as thoughts swirled through the hero's head.

He needed to see what was hiding inside. There was no other option.

"Not your call, Shads." Sonic declared softly, his voice slowly gaining strength. "I'm staying."

"What is it now, hedgehog?" Shadow's aggravated voice echoed behind him. "Stop staring and get moving, Faker. Stop wasting our time."

"We can't leave." The cobalt hedgehog replied quickly, sensing that if he didn't rectify the situation quickly he would find himself dangling by his feet from the top of a mountain. "I mean, we came this far. There's not use turning back now." The hero pointed out, noting how Shadow's eyes narrowed into thin sheets of ice.

He was half expecting the older male to drag him out of the chamber by his quills. It was a testament to Shadow's patience that he hadn't done so already.

Once again, it was Rouge who decided to intervene.

"Blue..." The female sighed tiredly, crossing her arms. She glanced at the Ultimate Lifeform, wary of the dark cloud hovering over her companion. "This isn't Eggman. These people kill with no remorse. It's just work for them." Hesitation made itself known as she said the last phrase, blue eyes flicking to Shadow, who was surprisingly solemn. "We can't afford to be careless."

Sonic unconsciously clenched his teeth at the soft reprimand. Unlike what many thought, he wasn't stupid. He knew this was different.

Eggman was greedy and vile, but he had honour. He tried his best to not injure his opponents; and he never, ever dealt with hostages with lethal force. The mad scientist could only bluff; he didn't have it in him to hurt someone. The Blue Blur respected him for that, and it was one of the many reasons why he's never brought himself to actively seek out and capture the man or use the more direct routes to pacify the human.

He simply did not want to go back to what he was before; he knew this kind of people far too well. More than Rouge or Shadow gave him credit for.

Green eyes flicking between the white bat and the black hedgehog, Sonic opened his mouth and replied with unusual hardness. "Whatever this Circle wants, it's behind that door. I bet the Commander wants it too. And they got me to open whatever that thing is. If we leave now, we won't be able to come back in time to stop them from getting what they are looking for." The sapphire hero responded, unrelenting, emerald eyes meeting with ruby.

Both rivals held their ground, refusing to give any ground for their counterpart to take advantage of. A helpless Rouge looked on with amusement and irritation as the duo continued to fight with their gaze, both too stubborn to give up.

It seemed as if the fight was inevitable.

"He has a point." Shadow suddenly agreed, surprising the two younger mobians, who broke off their intense staring and turned to him in bewilderment. "What these humans must be searching for is better in our hands than theirs."

"Besides," Sonic chirped, feeling strangely happy that his rival was on his side for once. "Tails could study it, and we'll know what it is and what it does soon enough!" He smirked victoriously. "That way they can't use it against us. It's perfect!"

Rouge let out a soft chuckle, resigning herself as the two males looked at her expectingly. "This wouldn't be the first time we've gone against the rules." Her expression darkened. "Let's hope it's a weapon, because I won't to shove it up the Commander's ass."

"Great!" Sonic exclaimed energetically despite the female threatening to brutally maim someone in front of him. He bounced towards the open gates, swiftly ducking under Shadow's hand as the unamused Ultimate Lifeform tried to pull him back. The sapphire hedgehog peered down the open gates, gazing silently at a dimly lit staircase leading below before looking over his shoulder at the two mobians. "Come on!"

Amusement coursed through the sapphire male as his rival let out a audible sigh of exasperation. Even Rouge looked torn, but the master spy seemingly shrugged it off and began walking after him. Chuckling, the young speedster began his trek down the broad staircase.

Sonic paused, frowning as he noted how dark and damp the place was. And the heat... Mentally preparing himself for the torture, the determined hero began walking down the stone steps in silence, sensing that his companions were following. Darkness engulfed him, turning his bright blue fur a dusty shade of gray.

It was at this moment that he wished he was an owl. _We might need a torch for this..._

 ** _Crunch._**

The three mobians immediately whirled around immediately, Sonic nearly slipping down the staircase in his haste to turn around and jump out of the gate. His exclamation of surprise was lost as a second, louder scrapping sound was heard, this time closer than the last. The heroes took a step back, wary as their eyes darted across the room, seeking the source of the sudden sound.

"What was that." Rouge hissed flatly, her wings spreading behind her in a desire to take off. Tense silence only greeted her question as the two males continued to scan the cavern, growing apprehension taking hold of their minds as they found nothing of interest.

 **Crunch.**

A muttered obscenity left Shadow as he heard the same noise for a third time, too close for his comfort. The Ultimate Lifeform growled, gold crackling around his forearms as he waited for their uninvited companion to show themselves. The sound had been too close. Dangerously so. In fact, it almost seemed as if it was coming from-

The claw marks in the other cavern.

 _Floor._

 _Walls._

 ** _Ceiling._**

Shadow's eyes widened and he looked up, scarlet eyes immediately noticing a mass of what seemed to be grey rocks suddenly turning a disgusting, sickly white. Sharp, jagged teeth gleamed brightly under the white lights, covered in a thin layer of drool as the thing stilled, muscles tensing over it's thin, emaciated frame, preparing to leap down upon them.

"Above!"

A long white object suddenly shot out from the ceiling, slamming down on the agents and the hero with tremendous brute force -but the mobians dodged it, jumping aside as their attacker hit the ground and sent up a cloud of dust. The thing above their heads shrieked, the sharp sound not unlike the scream of a dying animal startling the agents and the hero into action.

It unlatched itself from the ceiling and fell heavily on the floor, cracking the stone ground with it's weight. Sonic, Shadow and Rouge backed away quickly as it stretched, nearly overtaking the entire cave with it's body. It wasn't bulky however, spindly and bone-like, alike a spider. A very overgrown spider with a very long tail and a very big, gaping mouth that looked disturbingly human. It had six legs, the frontal and posteriors long and gangly with disturbingly human-like hands for feet, while the middle pair were insect-like in nature.

"What the hell is that?!" Rouge cried out, horrified as the beast turned around, the single yellow eye perched atop of it's jaws shifting between it's three targets with a eerily intelligent shine, tactfully analyzing them, probing for weaknesses. "Never mind, how the fuck didn't we notice this asshole?!"

"I don't know, but it looks awesome!" Sonic exclaimed as he kicked one of the thing's legs, making it stumble and nearly hit the ground. The arachnid-like monster snarled, turning it's full attention to the blur of cobalt buzzing around it. The long tail swished over head, the pincer ending clicking loudly as it tried to snag the blue hedgehog off the ground.

The Blue Blur was making things hard for the beast, continuously changing directions, kicking the legs of the aggravated beast off balance, which made the thing more irritated by it's tricky prey. Surprisingly, its hide held against Sonic's reckless charges, the thick, pasty white skin unmarred from the continuous spindashes.

Despite the lack of wounds, it was still angered by the attacks. Snarling, it whirled around and swept it's long tail across the floor, the slim appendage catching Sonic's knees and making the young hero tumble to the ground with a surprised exclamation. Seeing that it's target was down the monster lunged at the fallen hero; eager to enact revenge upon the vulnerable mobian-

 _"Chaos Spear!"_

-it quickly backed off as a luminous lance struck it in the face, narrowly missing it's massive eye. Angered, the beast turned to the source of the attack and let out a high-pitched shriek that made the entire cavern tremble. Shadow was unfazed by the threat display, giving the howling monstrosity no more interest than he would to a angry child begging for candies. Gloved hands glowed red with power as the Ultimate Lifeform lived up to his name, forming more of his signature weapon.

The air became thick with power as the immortal weapon of massive destruction got ready to destroy his opponent. Sensing it's impending doom, the monster looked around, a throaty hiss leaving the beast as it's bloodshot eye settled on a certain winged mobian standing by the sidelines, ready to provide a distraction if her companions needed it.

Shadow's eyes followed the creature's calculating stare before widening.

"Rouge!"

The clawed end of the monster's tail snapped open with a metallic creak before shooting towards the G.U.N. agent, their owner ignoring how a small blue hedgehog rammed himself against one of it's legs, trying to get it to stumble but failing as the thing anticipated the attack and pushed him away with a flick of its leg. Rouge spun around and tried to fly away from the approaching appendage, but it was quick enough to grab her by her left ankle and pull her closer, before letting go and grabbing her midsection tightly, painfully forcing her wings closed.

She thrashed, snarled and spat at her captor in fury as the skeletal tail pulled back, holding her close to the monstrous entity's head. Rouge kicked in the iron grip of her attacker, but she was unable to escape it. Aquamarine eyes glanced down at the panicking hedgehogs below. Shadow was standing by the black gates, left arm poised back, ready to throw a Chaos Spear but having stopped as their opponent put his partner in front of itself.

"It would be nice if you hurry up, boys!" Rouge hissed as the pincer tightened around her chest, making her torso ache. More than likely, tomorrow she would wake up to a nice array of bruises dotting her stomach. "I really don't want to deal with broken ribs!"

"Working on it! Be still!" Shadow barked as he tried to speed around the creature and it's captive, only to be refuted as the thing tracked his movements with ease. A pair of front legs armed with claws as sharp as blades lashed out at the Ultimate Lifeform, threatening to gore the hedgehog.

"Shads, she really can't do anything but be-"

"Not now, hedgehog." Shadow growled through clenched teeth, his attention solely on their opponent. The Ultimate Lifeform watched the beast in silence, returning the sharp glare with one of his own, the Chaos gathering in his hands fading as he reevaluated the situation. The monster's actions were strange; it was holding Rouge in front of it, over its vulnerable eye, the sharp pincers of the tail threatening to slice the female apart at any sudden move. Was that amusement he saw in the thing's wretched eye?

He didn't miss the fact that the creature had put Rouge directly in his line of fire. It's attention was focused on him -as if it was deeming him as the biggest threat, even if it was Sonic who had done most of the offensive...

Ruby eyes glanced back at the said hero, watching as the speedster hollered at the monster, kicked it's legs and stomped on it's thin paws, trying to get it's attention but failing despite making it stumble several times. The animal only reacted when the mobian got a bit too close to it's eye for comfort, a vicious hiss leaving it's lipless mouth as it clutched Rouge tighter, not enough to suffocate her but more than enough to hurt.

That death grip relaxed each time Sonic backed off, and Shadow watched it repeat the motion twice to the hero's irritation. His counterpart yelled and attacked the creature continuously, but he couldn't land any serious blows without the beast looking ready to stop Rouge in half. From the way it protected it's weak spot and used the jewel thief as a shield, it was clear that the animal possessed some form of human-level intelligence.

The Ultimate Lifeform's eyes gleamed darkly as he gathered green-gold flames at the tip of his fingers, something dark gleaming within the ruby eyes of the immortal as he spread his legs slightly, giving himself more stability for the upcoming battle. There was no doubt in Shadow's mind that this was going to be a interesting fight.

But first, he needed to get it away from Rouge. Sonic had the good strategy of hitting the long, spindly legs in a attempt to make the creature fall, but it was obvious that he lacked power and weight behind his attacks. He needed more than speed, more brute force to push the being five times his size off balance. Brute force was something Shadow had in spares.

Flicking his eyes to the left, the obsidian male let out a roar as wave of golden lights came into being above his head, hovering over him docilely before they sailed across the room and struck the animal's left shoulder in a concentrated blow, the force being the impact enough to pop the bone out of its socket with one clean strike.

The monster buckled, a low screech leaving it as its balance was lost and it fell forwards. The flat, toothy snout hit the ground as the remaining legs scrambled to get back up. The injured limb laid twitching at it's side, unable to hold its owner up. It snarled, scrambling to rise, the long tail whipping about, dragging Rouge around like a doll, the sharp grapple digging into the mobian's sides, probably drawing blood-

-until it suddenly wasn't holding the jewel thief anymore, but was rather reduced to a stump of flesh and bones twitching on the floor.

Sonic stood tall in front of the wriggling, screaming creature, his expression one of stoic resignation as he set Rouge down, helping the injured bat stand as the jewel thief's blood was finally allowed to rush down to her lower torso and legs, something the tight grip had prevented. She spread her wings, rolled her shoulder and stretched her arms before looking at Sonic with a mixture of annoyance and gratitude for not saving her sooner.

The Blue Blur did not respond to her muttered thank you, staying uncharacteristically silent as he turned dark eyes to the injured animal, which thrashing and shrieking in fury at the entrance of the cave. Blood freckled his body, dripping down curving quills and staining fawn fur brown. The dark substance was highlighted by the contrast the plush blue pelt made, a sight that would have scarred a normal man.

Injured but still able to continue the assault, the beast growled as it finally stood up, the dislocated leg angled oddly as it turned towards the three mobians, but managing to support its owner's weight through sheer determination. The sharp yellow eye stared at them in cold, restrained rage, calculative. The amount of intelligence in that orb staggering. Sonic and Shadow tensed simultaneity as it took a step closer, lower jaw twitching with the need to snap at them.

The creature suddenly jumped back, startling them with its quick speed. It reared up on it's back legs, mouth opening wide in a deafening shriek and before either of the hedgehogs could do anything, both of its front legs slammed the ceiling with enough force to make the chamber shudder.

Oppressive silence followed as it slowly lowered itself back down, bloodied tail flicking. A bright amber eye gleamed a cold, collected glow as the gangly beast shuffled back, waiting, ever so patient.

 _ **Crack.**_

With a humongous groan, a massive spidery tear grew on the ceiling.

The mobians froze, a sense of realization striking them as their eyes shifted from the prowling monster to the damaged ceiling. The rip was slowly growing, delicate fissures stretching out and spreading like a fungus. Stalactites crumbled and fell one by one, and the small trickle quickly becoming a raging storm of dust and volcanic stone.

"Dammit!" Sonic heard someone shout over the commotion; he was pretty sure it was Shadow. Stalactites crumbled, the earth parted beneath his feet and dust fell from the ceiling as the room threatened to collapse. The mobians were forced back towards the black door as large chunks of earth fell from the ceiling, several nearly crushing them if not for their quick reflexes.

"We have to go!" Rouge exclaimed through the thundering crashes that followed as the earth shuddered and groaned around them, beginning to bury them alive.

 _But which direction?_ Sonic thought in a panic. They couldn't turn back, not with that thing in the way. The monster's actions were forcing them deeper into the cave system, and something told Sonic that it would be a while before he saw the light of the sun again -if they ever made it.

But could they try to escape by going through the beast? The blue hedgehog glanced at his counterpart. He knew Shadow was thinking the same. It would be safer to try and get through the monster than go deeper, where the unstable cave system could take their life.

"The door is our best option." Huh? Green eyes turned towards smouldering ruby, noting the fury hidden deep within his counterpart's gaze. He couldn't believe it. Had Shadow just proposed digging themselves deeper into this death trap?

"Shads, as much as I trusts your judgement -which isn't much- that's the worst idea ever." Sonic retorted through the roar of falling stone. Already the ground was starting to crack under their feet, moments away from splitting wide open and swallowing them whole. "We need to get through that thing! Staying inside the caves is asking to get buried alive!"

"Have you forgotten about the tunnel, Faker? It probably collapsed by now!"

 _Shit._

He'd forgotten about that.

A loud shriek came from their opponent, silencing their short lived argument. Sonic whirled around towards the source of the deafening scream, only to scramble away as a spindly humanoid hand landed where he was before.

Even with the dormant volcano threatening to fall on top of them, the creature was still focused on them. Another heavy paw landed next to him, forcing the mobians back. The monster reared up in front of them, uncaring of the rocks repeatedly pelting it's flakey, pale hide. The clawed hand reached out again, too close to avoid in such small quarters; Sonic jumped back as far as he could, letting out a shout of indignation as it managed to catch one of his legs. He fell heavily on his back in front of his companions, wincing as he felt the sickle-like claws dig into his flesh.

"Get off!" Ignoring his command the creature began pulling him forwards, trying to drag him back to it's massive head. The monster crawled closer, unable to move much as the cave slowly became filled with rubble. The blue hedgehog kicked and flailed with fervor, choking through the dust falling from the ceiling as he desperately tried to free himself. Rouge cursed somewhere behind him, her voice distorted and faint as his senses focused on his unavoidable fate.

The thing edged as close as it could, sharp teeth gleaming, slick with saliva as the bright yellow eyes gazed at him with vengeful intent, the intelligence behind that glare too human for him to believe-

Arms wrapped themselves around his torso, stopping the creature from getting it's meal. The animal roared at Shadow, who glared back just as viciously, his grip on the captive hero tightening. Sonic glanced back at his rival with worried -and slightly relieved- eyes, but found the Ultimate Lifeform's attention solely on the beast.

Unfortunately, the ebony male's hands were too busy keeping Sonic from become a chew toy to be able to summon a Chaos Spear to get rid of the threat. Shadow's immense strength was enough to keep the tug of war in a stalemate against the being five times his size, but the cobalt hedgehog being used as the rope in the said tug of war was starting to feel as if his leg was going to fall off.

"It's not working, Shads!" Sonic yelped in a panic. The muscles and tendons of his leg were screaming now, threatening to snap at any moment.

"Shut up, Faker!" Was that a waver he heard in the elder's voice? Shadow did not waver. Shadow was a stubborn asshole that needed to be beaten to the ground to change his opinion. He did not waver.

(He was so going to get his leg chewed off, wasn't he? )

Sonic wasn't one for hysterics, far from it despite his friends describing him as eccentric. But it so wasn't like the most important part of his body -because he was nothing without his speed- was about to fall off, ripped away for him to spend his final moments bleeding out in horrifying agony.

Had not pure panic been flowing through his brain, scrambling his senses and making his death grip of his rival's arm tighten to the point of stopping the blood flow, Sonic would have laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. Who would have thought that Shadow of all people would be trying to prevent his death?

 _I've got to buy him one of those sweet rolls when we get out of here..._

Promise made and written down on a mental notebook, Sonic slowly let go of his hold on Shadow's arms. He felt the Ultimate Lifeform mutter a low curse somewhere above him and winced. If Shadow loosened his grip by the slightest, the thing might just pull both of them forwards and swallow them whole; on the other hand, if neither side was willing to give up, Sonic might just kiss his leg goodbye -as well as running. Fortunately, the other front leg of the animal had been disabled, preventing it from getting a good foothold, otherwise they would be dead already.

The matter of the fact was, this wasn't going to remain a stalemate forever.

Clapping his hands together, Sonic allowed a comforting cold to spread out from his heart to the rest of his body. He slowly opened his palms, feeling the familiar sharp sting of Ether gather in the empty space between them as a sphere of pulsating light. The cave rumbled around them once more, his heart pounded loudly in his ribcage and a shard of rock somehow managing to find it's way into his left ear, but despite this he managed to remain concentrated.

"Hope you like this, sucker!" Sonic snarled as he flung the orb at the creature, watching with satisfaction as the thing stiffened at the sight of the glowing projectile.

The surprised beast let out a low warble as it ducked, laying it's body flat on the ground just in time for the sphere of energy to sail over it's crested head and crash into the furthest wall, collapsing stone over their exit and its tail. Sonic winced at the sight, knowing that he'd effectively trapped everyone in the unstable cavern.

The hold on his leg had loosened somewhat, so the cobalt hedgehog had no issues kicking the hand with enough strength to knock it open. Sonic's ankle ached from the rough treatment, but relief flooded through him at the realization he'd been able to come out of the situation unscathed. Wiggling out of the giant appendage, the young hero quickly grabbed his rival by the arm and ran towards the black gates where Rouge awaited, the jewel thief clutching her right shoulder, bloody after being hit with rubble.

A enraged roar echoed behind them as a shadow loomed over their heads, too close for comfort. Green eyes over their shoulder, easily picking out the stark white hide of the beast slowly growing bigger as it closed in on their location, relentless despite the danger of being buried alive. In any other situation, the two hedgehogs would be at the gates by now, but with the falling debris it was a death trap to run through. Stalactites fell around them, exploding into shards that scraped their skin and sent dust in their eyes but despite this they headed towards the doors without getting killed.

Sonic stumbled through the ruins, hacking out dust and dirt as he hazily dodged giant pieces of rubble from crushing him. He felt a familiar hand curled on his left wrist, both leading and dragging the half-blinded hero through the chaos. The sapphire speedster followed after the older male with surprising obedience, not minding having his rival's actions as he was to busy trying to not die.

Eye widening, the monster let out a howl of outrage as it reached out at them again, this time trying to squash them with a backhanded slap.

Sonic's narrowed eyes flashed iridescent.

"Ether Shield!" A gleaming barrier sprang up around them at the needless shout, momentarily blocking the waterfall rubbles threatening to bury them alive. Sonic spread his arms out and felt the iridescent shield comply with his wishes, tightening in front of them to absorb the incoming attack.

The Blue Blur wasn't expecting the giant hand to go through the wall of energy.

He didn't even have time to think, much less dodge the attack. The surprised Sonic took the full strength of the blow, the massive limb striking him in the front and sending the unfortunate speedster flying back into the two other mobians. Neither of the duo were ready for this turn of events, and were thrown back by Sonic's body.

All three of the heroes fell back, tumbling to the dust-ridden ground, through black doors and down the flight of stairs. Heads banged against stone as the two warriors and the master spy rolled down the giant staircase and into the darkness, the screams of the beast above loosing strength as they fell farther and farther away.

Shadow could not for the life of him remember when they came to stop at the bottom of the stairs, as all he could feel was a dizzying pain. His eyesight spun out of control, his limbs fell weak and his muscles ached from their encounter with the stone stairs. Groaning softly, the obsidian warrior slowly lifted his head up, trying and failing to blink away the dizzy spell that had fallen upon him. He heard Rouge moan softly in pain to his right, the white bat finally coming back to her senses.

A wing twitched against his back, confirming to Shadow that he was more than likely situated within a pile of limbs. Shakily trying to get up, the Ultimate Lifeform growled to himself as his arms gave away beneath him and he fell back down on something warm and soft.

(It smelled nice too...)

Ruby eyes snapped open.

The fuck.

His head snapped up, his enhanced eyesight noticing the blue form laying beneath him, breathing regular as if asleep. Sonic had somehow managed to end up at the bottom of the pile; his quills were unruly, even more than normal, and Shadow noted quickly forming bruises around the smaller male's chest and face, probably from the beast's backhand.

 _I should have killed that thing outright_ , a part of him chastised as the battered agent slowly rolled off his smaller rival, pulling a faintly resisting Rouge off his back, the white bat just as tired as he was if the way she slipped to the floor like a sack of potatoes and promptly passed back out was any indication.

Another dizzy spell struck Shadow, making the G.U.N. agent growl as his arms gaze out under him, making him collapse next to his rival. He tried to stop it, but his limbs refused to answer, crying out for rest. The Ultimate Lifeform cursed silently as his cheek pressed against smooth stone.

Blue clung to the corner of his vision, reminding him of his position. He halfheartedly pushed the smaller hedgehog away, only to pause when he heard a faint keen of pain from his rival.

Suddenly remembering how the speedster had been sent flying via a slap of a giant, clawed hand Shadow quickly sat up, forcing his eyes to work as he reached out and pressed his fingers to the hero's neck, checking his pulse. It was normal, if not a tad slow for his liking. Next, the ebony male ran his fingers through the blue fur, quickly checking for broken bones.

Thankfully, he found nothing save several bruises; there was still the possibility of a sprained limb, but it would be impossible to affirm this until Sonic woke up -and continued to make his life a living hell.

Satisfied that his rival was in working condition -because if someone was going to break the idiot, it would be him- Shadow sat next to the pile of fur and began his watch over the duo, uncharacteristically patient with them as he waited for his companions to wake up.

The young hero sleeping at his side let out a small groan and fidgeted, but Shadow unconsciously traced the tip of Sonic's ears gently, remembering what had happened the night before. The sapphire male quickly went back to sleep, leaving the Ultimate Lifeform to sit alone in the darkness.

* * *

 **Almost 10k for this chapter. Holy crap, good thing the last two are mostly written out. I don't know what I would have done otherwise.**

 **Also, anyone got any times on how to write Omega? I've never been good with robots.**


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